VICS faded after taking the lead at Crawley and, with only one point from their first four games, are among the early strugglers in the Blue Square Premiership bottom four.
Debutant midfielder Brad Maylett created Northwich’s opener after 32 minutes with a good cross which was met with a firm header by Simon Rusk.
Within two minutes, however, the Sussex side were level, their Brazilian striker Magno Vieira registering with a scorching shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Crawley went on to score what proved to be the winner on 53 minutes when a defensive mix-up involving Adrian Brown and Chris Welch presented Vieira with a gift second goal.
Vics improved for a time when former Chester striker Lee Steele came on as a substitute to show his pace in a green shirt for the first time and he had a firm shot well saved by David Bayes.
Further substitutions saw Greg Strong and Dino Maamria introduced, but there was no pattern or punch about Vics’ display and Crawley were able to reassert their grip.
There were few pluses for Northwich, although Richard Battersby did well on his first full outing at right-back and Maylett impressed.
But it was apparent to the small following from mid-Cheshire that manager Neil Redfearn urgently needs to bring in more new faces before next weekend’s signings deadline.
He has an important home clash with fellow strugglers York City today.
