TOM Lowery fired a second-half double as Crewe Alexandra beat Salford City 4-1 to climb to within a point of League Two leaders Exeter City.

Midfielder Lowery and Harry Pickering struck within the space of five minutes in the second period to put Crewe in command after Chris Porter's header had cancelled out Adam Rooney's first-half effort for Salford.

Lowery added his second with eight minutes left to seal the Railwaymen's seventh league win of the season.

Exeter extended their unbeaten league start to 10 matches after being held 1-1 at Newport County.

Tristan Abrahams' second-half penalty earned Newport a point after Lee Martin had put Exeter in front at the interval.

Cheltenham Town stay third, a point behind Crewe, after winning 2-0 at Plymouth Argyle.

Luke Varney headed Cheltenham in front before the break and Will Aimson's own goal in stoppage time sealed their fourth straight league win.

Forest Green Rovers had Kyle Taylor sent off as they were to a 0-0 draw at home by Stevenage, while Bradford City climbed three places after a 3-1 home win against Carlisle United.

Olufela Olomola scored early on for Carlisle, who had midfielder Jack Bridge sent off in the 33rd minute for his second yellow card.

Bradford hit back through Harry Pritchard and Kelvin Mellor's header and were reduced to 10 men themselves in the second period when Ben Richards-Everton was shown a straight red for his challenge on Jack Iredale. Zeli Ismail added Bradford's third deep in stoppage time.

Crawley Town hit back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Northampton Town thanks to Joe Martin's late own goal.

Chris Lines converted a 15th-minute penalty for Northampton and had a second-half spot kick saved before Shaun McWilliams struck the home side's second.

Ashley Nathaniel-George reduced the deficit for Crawley and Josh Doherty's shot was deflected in off home defender Martin in added time.

Ethan Robson struck the only goal 10 minutes into the second half to secure Grimsby Town a 1-0 home win against Macclesfield Town and Colchester United beat Leyton Orient 2-1.

Kwame Poku and Ryan Jackson put Colchester in control and Conor Wilkinson pulled one back for Orient before half-time.

Oldham Athletic registered their second league win of the season, 3-1 against Morecambe at Boundary Park in Dino Maamria's first game in charge.

Mohamed Maouche's first-half header and Desire Azankpo put Oldham 2-0 up and although Shaun Miller halved the deficit with 12 minutes left, Jonny Smith's late strike ensured maximum points for the Latics.

Walsall won 1-0 at home against Scunthorpe United thanks to James Clarke's second-half header and Nathan Smith's stoppage-time equaliser snatched a point for Port Vale in a 2-2 home draw against Mansfield Town.

Mark Cullen equalised for Port Vale on the stroke of half-time after Kellan Gordon had put Mansfield in front.

The visitors regained the lead through Danny Rose's 75th-minute penalty, but Smith levelled it up again in the fourth minute of time added on.