Longhurst enjoys day but not the scoreline

He enjoyed taking on the League 2 club and could see the benefit in terms of how far his players would need to go if they were to play in the Football League.

He said: “I’m a little bit disappointed with some of the goals we conceded, despite how good Crawley were.

“It’s an old cliche but it’s about a fitness exercise, about being fitter than we we were yesterday, which we are.

“I thought at times in the second half we had some decent possession, although we didn’t do a great deal with it.

“We did have a good few periods, we gave away some sloppy goals, which were a bit unecessary.

“We had a lack of communication because they haven’t played together which I can understand as it is the start of pre-season. We now have a good relationship with Crawley, they are pleased with the facilities.

“We have given a debut to a 16-year-old goalkeeper (Lorcan Healy) who came on in the second half.

“Two other 16-year-olds played and three other 18-year-olds played which is great. We’re not going to compete with teams like them, we don’t need to. This is just our first step in our preparation.

“We just need to be ready come August 20.”