Crawley Town have been dumped out of the Parafix Sussex Senior Cup by Ryman south side Hastings United.
Last season the Reds lost 6-1 away to Whitehawk in this competition and tonight's 2-1 home defeat after extra time was another nightmare for the club.
With no reserve or youth team, manager Mark Yates fielded a side of first-team squad players, with one trialist – Max Kilman – on the bench.
The Reds went ahead on 22 minutes through on-loan Crystal Palace left-back Christian Scales who tapped in after Jon Ashton helped Mitch Hancox’s corner back into the six-yard box.
However, Hastings were level five minues later when Callum Preston pushed out a shot from Jack Harris and Bright Temba was first to react to make it 1-1.
Preston then did well to keep out a Harris header before Gavin Tomlin went close for Reds.
Crawley had a number of chances in the second half, the best of them being when Lee Barnard hit the crossbar.
However, they had to survive a late chance for Hastings when Sam Cruttwell shot wide in the 92nd minute.
Early in the second period of extra time Hastings went ahead when substitute Sam Adams scored with a free header from Tyrell Richardson-Brown’s cross.
A minute later an Adams header was palmed on to the bar by Preston as the visitors threatened a third.
Crawley: Preston, Bawling, Ashton (sub Kilman), Hancox (sub Bradley), Scales, Jenkins, Rooney, Henderson (sub Deacon), Fenelon, Barnard, Tomlin. Subs not used: Flahavan, Young.
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