Martin Hinshelwood surveyed his first week as Albion manger and admitted: "It has been good."

A week ago Albion fans were somewhat subdued about the prospect of First Division football.

More than two months after the shock departure of Peter Taylor, who had led Albion to the Second Division championship, there was still no manager and no new players.

But Hinshelwood's appointment seven days ago has been followed by three successive wins against more than useful non-League opposition and suddenly the optimisim levels are rising.

This was certainly the best performance of the three friendlies to date, following on from wins against Worthing (4-1) and Sutton (1-0).

Eight goals scored, only one conceded and the club's star player still to return from injury. Has Hinshelwood got the magic touch Albion were looking for all summer?

The 49-year-old former director of youth said: "The coaching staff looked at the pre-season without a manager and looked at what we wanted to do. We wanted to get three games in against good opposition, give everybody 45 minutes and then build it up from there and it has gone very well.

"We changed it a little bit today. I like 4-4-2 but looking at the players we have got we have probably got more players who want to play in the middle of the park, so we went with 4-3-3. You have got to have a look at things and I am pleased with the way we played.

"It has been a long week but it has been a good week for me and I am looking forward to many more."

If it has been a good week for Hinshelwood, it has not been a bad one for Robbie Pethick either.

Having failed to score a single goal for Albion last year and having only ever netted five League goals in his career, the defender now has three in three pre-season friendlies.

Pethick opened the scoring with a corker on ten minutes and second-half goals followed from Daniel Marney and Shaun Wilkinson.

Like he had done for the previous two matches, Hinshelwood played different line-ups for the two halves.

The first-half line-up saw Kerry Mayo playing centre back alongside Danny Cullip, a midfield trio of Richard Carpenter, Steve Melton and fist year pro Dean Hammond, with Paul Brooker and Chris McPhee playing roving striker roles around trialist centre forward Bradley Allen.

While the defence never looked like being breached, it was the midfield trio who were most impressive. All three knocked the ball around well, barely giving Crawley a sniff in the centre of the park.

Carpenter, in particular, stood out and his influence on the campaign ahead could be huge.

McPhee had already gone close with a rising shot from Melton's pull back when Albion took the lead out of the blue in the tenth minute.

When the ball was knocked into the path of Pethick, at least 35 yards from goal, there looked to be little on. But the full-back caught the ball superbly to beat home keeper Adrian Blake with a terrific right foot drive which kept low.

It could have been 2-0 just before the break when a lovely interchange between Brooker and Allen resulted in McPhee lifting his shot over the bar from eight yards.

Albion made nine changes at half time with only Michel Kuipers and Allen remaining on the pitch and two of the replacements combined to put the Seagulls 2-0 ahead within 90 seconds of the restart.

David Lee's lifted ball to the far post picked out Marney who fired across Blake into the far corner.

Marney was a key figure in the second half and perhaps should have made it 3-0 on 68 minutes when seizing on a misplaced pass before shooting straight at Blake.

Wilkinson, who was pushed into attack after initially replacing Pethick, did score the third four minutes from time with a neat header from Charlie Oatway's cross following a quick corner.

Marney had the opportunity to add a fourth but his 89th-minute penalty was easily saved by replacement keeper Luke Garrard after Matt Ottley had brought down Wilkinson.

There were 24 substitutions in all, 17 at half time, which made the second half something of a stop-start affair but there were still plus points for Albion.

None more so than the display of second-half centre backs Adam Virgo and Adam Hinshelwood, Martin's nephew, who impressed immensely with strength, positioning and well-timed tackles.

There was even a late debut for 17-year-old goalkeeper Alex Bryant, a second-year trainee, who was named on the bench as Will Packham was injured.

Hinshelwood said: "The young boys have come in and have not looked out of place. I am not going to be frightened to put the boys in if I feel at the time they can do the job, because it will be a man's job, They will be okay."

As for Crawley, this was their first pre-season run-out and they included five new signings in the starting line-up, plus another five new faces as substitutes.

Assistant-manager John Broughton, taking charge in the absence of the holidaying Billy Smith, said: "We defended quite well in the first half but we were always going to come out second against a team like Brighton.

"Young Marlon Pattterson started on the left side of midfield, moved into the centre and he was quite creative. He did himself a lot of good.

"We didn't create that much but in general you have got to be satisfied."

All in all, Albion should be highly pleased with this work-out. Plenty of players should take credit from their display but the biggest smile belonged to a 49-year-old sitting in the dug-out. And rightly so.

Crawley: Blake (sub Garrard 68), Judge (sub Hemsley 75), Brake (sub Payne 45), Hooper (sub Ottley 45), Pullen (sub Doherty 45), Fear (sub Hodge 81), Holmes (sub Sargent 45), Harkin (sub Patterson 45), Le Bihan (sub Bagnall 62), Hockton (sub Abbey 45), Stevens (sub McDonnell 45). Also, Lock on for Sargent 84.

Albion (first half): Kuipers, Pethick, Jones, Cullip, Mayo, Carpenter, Hammond, Melton, Allen, McPhee, Brooker. (Second half): Kuipers (sub Bryant 84), Wilkinson, Harding, Virgo, A.Hinshelwood, Pitcher, Lee, Rogers, Allen (Pethick 62), Oatway, Marney.

Referee: Martin Postles (Billingshurst).