Crawley's youngsters could hardly have dreamed just how hard the going would be as they were blasted out of the FA Youth Cup by Arsenal.

A bumper Broadfield crowd of 1,636 saw the young Gunners win 9-0 on Friday night.

Reds' second biggest gate of the season, topped only once by the first team, saw Town match their Premiership rivals for almost 20 minutes.

But the gulf in class became apparent once Quincy Owusu-Abeyie opened the floodgates with the first of a hat-trick.

Strike partner Anthony Stokes went one better with four goals as the Gunners' artillery proved far too strong in a seven-goal second-half blitz.

Sussex under-18 goalkeeper Mark Fox saved Crawley twice in quick succession after six minutes, blocking well from Dominic Shimmin and Stokes.

Town broke from the second rebound and forced a corner, taken by Alex Kearney on the left and headed just over by Simon Hamilton.

Crawley restricted the Gunners to long-range efforts before Owusu-Abeyie raced onto Ryan Smith's through ball to open his account after 19 minutes.

Both the goalscorer and creator appeared for Arsenal's first team in the recent Carling Cup match against Rotherham, emphasising the extent of the task facing Town.

Stokes hit a post before Owusu-Abeyie struck again, volleying in when Stokes knocked back a Dean McDonald corner.

Mark Dixon cleared off the line from Stokes and Town were probably relieved to go into the break only two down.

Any thoughts that Arsenal might ease up were dispelled by four goals in nine minutes just before the hour.

Smith pounced on Owusu-Abeyie's cross, Stokes hammered into the roof of the net, McDonald created another for Stokes and Owusu-Abeyie knotched another from an almost impossibly tight angle.

Crawley's Sean Ardley was sent off after 67 minutes for a second bookable offence before two more classy finishes by Stokes and a 40-yarder by Francesc Fabregas completed the rout.

Crawley: Fox, Dixon, Bowra (Mercer 78), Joe Lyons, Hamilton, Ardley, T. Smith (Wilmer 72), Joyce, G. Smith (Mitchell 78), Josh Lyons, Kearney. Subs not used: Keehan, Hill.

Arsenal: Howard, Sulaiman, Hislop, Creggs, Shimmin, Oji, McDonald (Spaul), O'Donnell, Stokes, Owusu-Abeyie (Samuel 61), Smith (Fabregas 61). Subs not used: Wright, Muamba.