Macaulay Langstaff hit a brace as Salford maintained their position at the top of League Two with a hard-fought 2-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Crawley.

Langstaff flicked a shot narrowly wide before Luke Molyneux forced veteran goalkeeper Vito Mannone into a diving save with a curling effort as Salford threatened to open the scoring in the opening 10 minutes.

The hosts took a deserved lead in the 17th minute when Langstaff finished off a slick passing move involving Kallum Cesay and Molyneux with a close-range volley.

Sierra Leone attacker Cesay skewed a shot wide from a tight angle before Mannone comfortably caught a Langstaff header as Salford went in search of a second goal before half-time.

The Ammies doubled their advantage five minutes after the break when Cesay turned provider again, teeing up Langstaff to curl a low shot into the bottom corner.

But Crawley hit back with their first attempt on target nine minutes later as intricate passing unlocked the space for Dylan Morgan to pick out the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Mannone beat away a fierce drive from Langstaff 15 minutes from time as the striker was denied a hat-trick, but Salford held on to record a fourth straight League Two win.