Cup hero Ben Smith could be left on the bench when Crawley take on Manchester United on Saturday.

The midfielder, who has played in all six games in Reds’ glory run to the fifth round, was ousted by on-loan David Hunt for Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Wrexham in the Blue Square Bet premier.

Hunt, signed from League One Brentford until the end of the season, kept his place after replacing Smith at half-time and played a significant part as Crawley came from 2-0 down to beat the Welsh side 3-2 last Saturday.

Significantly, boss Steve Evans withdrew the 28-year-old in the second half at the Racecourse after he had been shown a yellow card.

Evans says his performance and that of goalkeeper Scott Shearer, who looked assured on his debut, had given him food for thought in the build-up to Old Trafford.

Evans said: “A lot of people think they know the team for Saturday. I would suggest there will be one or two surprises, although there will be nothing radical or stupid.

“We said to the guys who came in on Tuesday to go out and give us something to think about and I think they did that.

“Scott Shearer has shown what a presence he is and that he is up for a fight with Michel Kuipers for the goalkeeper’s jersey.

“David Hunt we protected when we took him off because he was on a yellow card. We were concerned that the referee would see something that no one else had seen and book him again.”

Hunt’s presence would give Reds a more solid look in central midfield alongside Dannie Bulman which they are going to need against United who are likely to dominate possession.