Izale McLeod netted his third goal of pre-season as Crawley went down 3-1 to Fulham at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

McLeod followed up his brace against Burgess Hill by converting a penalty to cancel out Tom Cairney’s first half strike for a strong Cottagers side.

Fulham restored their advantage on the stroke of half-time through Jazz Richards and substitute Liam Donnelly made it 3-1 just before the end.

Goalkeeper Callum Preston impressed for Reds as he bids to earn a deal following his release by Birmingham while Joe McNerney looked strong at centre-back.

Reds boss Mark Yates also took a look at former Tottenham and Southampton striker Lee Barnard for the first time as a second half substitute while ex-Albion man George Barker also got a run out.

Ross McCormack had the ball in the back for Fulham after five minutes but the referee blew up for a foul by Matt Smith on Sonny Bradley.

Reds were next to go close when trialist Roarie Deacon lashed a shot onto the underside of the bar from 20 yards and McLeod could only nod the follow-up wide.

The deadlock was broken in the 15th minute when Cairney fired home from ten yards after Callum Preston had saved well from Matt Smith.

Reds were level within two minutes after McLeod was brought down in the area by Richards and picked himself up to fire home his third goal of pre-season from the spot.

Former Birmingham City under-21 goalkeeper Preston made another fine save to deny Jamie O’Hara just but Fulham restored their lead on the stroke of half-time when Richards broke clear down the right and thumped a rising shot into the roof of the net.

Fulham made seven changes at half-time while Reds waited until the 65 minute mark to bring on their first wave of substitutes.

Among them were trialists Chris Sessignon, Francis Boateng, Alex Brister, George Barker and Lee Barnard.

The game became less cohesive as a result but the chances that were created fell to the visitors. Preston saved well again from Ross McCormack while Cauley Woodrow put a free header wide.

Deacon had the clearest sight of goal for Reds but his effort was saved at the near post by substitute keeper Andy Lonergan.

Fulham added some gloss to the result in injury time when the ball fell to Donnelly from a corner and he swivelled to fire home from ten yards.

Crawley: Preston; Bawling (Sessignon, 65), McNerney (Brister, 80), Bradley (Ashton, 60), O’Hanlon; Edwards (Fenelon, 65), Smith (Boateng, 80), Walton (Barker, 62), Rooney (Young, 65); McLeod (Barnard, 65), Deacon (Harrold, 65). Subs not used: Richefond, Bishop, Fitzpatrick.

Fulham: Bettinelli (Lonergan, 45); Richards (Grimmer, 45), Hutchinson (Burgess, 65), Bodurov (Donnelly, 65), Kavanagh (Voser, 65); O’Hara (Tunnicliffe, 45), Christensen (Cole, 45); Kacaniklic (Hyndman, 45), Cairney (Pringle, 45), McCormack (Taggart, 65); Smith (Woodrow, 45). Subs not used: Eisfeld.