Crawley's Wembley dream turned into a nightmare after they were hammered by Torquay today.

Reds were dumped out of the FA Trophy quarter final by the Blue Square premier high-flyers following a second-half horror show at Plainmoor.

Steve Evans' side were unfortunate to go in at half-time a goal down but could have no complaints with the three they conceded after the break due to a combination of poor defending and good finishing which sent the rampant Gulls into the last four.

Evans had surprisingly decided to throw Josh Dutton-Black in at the deep end on the left side of midfield.

The 20-year-old joined last week from Southampton on a month's loan and replaced Mustapha Carayol to make his debut.

He was one of four changes from the 2-1 league defeat against Ebbsfleet ten days ago.

Jamie Stevens was back in defence after being rested but started at the left back in place of Paul Watson rather than his more familiar centre-back role.

Bradley Thomas came into the centre of the back four to accommodate the cup-tied Kevin James, while at the other end of the pitch Jon-Paul Pittman returned at the expense of Magno Vieira.

Pittman, in particular, looked lively early on as Crawley made the better start to the game.

He created the first opening when he outpaced the home defence down the inside-left channel but the ball took a nasty bobble as he tried to cross for Jamie Cook and keeper Martin Rice caught it comfortably.

Torquay had barely threatened before they took the lead against the run of play on 19 minutes.

Tim Fills caught the Reds' defence napping with a neat ball over the top and former Lewes striker Roscoe D'Sane stole in to finish with a clinical lob over former Torquay goalkeeper Ashley Bayes.

The visitors almost hit back immediately when Thomas met Dutton-Black's free kick with a powerful header and forced Rice into a low save.

Crawley continued to have the better of the game and went close again when Thomas Pinault blasted over from 20 yards.

Cook then sent a volley inches too high on the stroke of half time after Dutton-Black forced a corner following a swift counter-attack.

The home side came roaring out of the blocks after the break and should have doubled their lead minutes into the restart.

Kieran Murphy made a mess of a clearance on his six yard line and all Chris Zedrosji had to do was pass the ball into the net. But the midfielder had not anticipated the defender's mistake and Glenn Wilson slid in to clear the danger.

The vocal United fans did not have much longer to wait for the second goal, which came from Kaid Mohamed on 59 minutes.

He was found unmarked down the inside-right channel by D'Sane and slotted under Bayes into the bottom corner.

Mohamed killed Reds off seven minutes later with his second strike following more good work by D'Sane.

The pacey front man raced past Thomas and squared for Mohamed, who slid the ball into the same corner as his first.

Substitute Lee Phillips almost added another with his first touch moments later after outpacing Thomas and sending a low shot just wide.

Reds brought on Ollie Allen for the final 20 minutes for his first appearance since joining on loan from Stevenage.

But it made little difference as Torquay netted a fourth 13 minutes from time when Phillips headed in from close range.

Cook scored the consolation for Crawley with four minutes remaining from the penalty spot after a handball by Phillips, but they could have few complaints about the final result.