Crawley were handed a finishing lesson by Sheffield Wednesday at Broadfield Stadium last night.
First-half goals from £2m Dutchman Gerard Sibon and ex-England under-21 international Richard Cresswell set them on their way to a 3-1 win.
Ritchie Humphries added a third from the spot for Jay Lovett pulled one back near the end.
Wednesday boss and former Albion trialist Paul Jewell fielded a full-strength side, minus only Belgium international Giles De Bilde and Swedish midfielder Niclas Alexandersson.
The Yorkshire club dominated the first half after a shaky opening 15 minutes, which saw Lovett twice shoot wide and John Ugbah head inches over.
Sibon opened the scoring on 35 minutes when he spotted keeper Andy Little way off his line and chipped him from 30 yards.
That lead was doubled when Cresswell exchanged passes with Phil O'Donnell on the right and shot across Little from a acute angle.
The second half lacked entertainment, but Wednesday clearly held the upper hand.
Substitute Adam Muller soon had an impact when he won a penalty after being knocked off the ball by Lovett after 75 minutes.
Humphries, another Owls sub, stepped up to send Little the wrong way.
Lovett let fly from 35 yards to beat substitute keeper Chris Stringer all ends up late on.
Reds gave a debut to Mark Hynes, signed from Dover and Matt Woolf, recruited from Bromley.
Crawley: Little, Lovett, Payne, Taylor, Pullan, Ugbah (sub Johnson 78mins), Sharman (sub Doherty 81mins), Woolf (sub Moore 86), Wordworth (sub Mcaree 67), Hynes, Vines.
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