Crawley Town suffered a 1-0 defeat away to relegation battlers Grays, who effectively saved themselves from the drop thanks to a 32nd-minute goal by George Beavon.

But it was a battling display which was particularly encouraging for the more than promising debuts by youth team players Max Lake-Edwards and Byron Napper, who were given their chance to impress in central defence and central midfield respectively by manager Steve Evans.

Assistant manager Paul Raynor praised the team’s display coming in difficult circumstances at the end of a hectic run-in which had seen four tough fixtures within eight days, including the two longest journeys of the season to Torquay and Barrow.

He said: “It was an encouraging display with the side we put out. We counted nine injuries at one point this week and the boys who came in from the youth team both did exceptionally well.

“We came here to play a Grays side who were fighting for their life and in the last 30 minutes we were camped in their half.

“But for a couple of missed chances, we could have got something from the game.”

They were two of four changes to the side which had drawn 3-3 away to Barrow on Saturday, with Danny Forrest also coming in to the side as captain playing at right-back and Lewis Killeen at left-midfield. Adam Quinn, Jamie Cook, Dannie Bulman and Chris Giles were all rested.

Despite their changes, Crawley settled into some comfortable passing moves and produces the first two chances of the game when Jon Shaw struck a low shot from outside the area which was easily held by home keeper Lee Butcher.

Gavin Hurren, keeping his place in central midfield, struck an effort from outside the box over the bar.

The Reds fell behind in the 32nd minute when Tommy Black hit the underside of the crossbar with Geavan firing home the rebound.

Michael Malcolm had the best chance for Crawley to get back on to level terms with a 55th-minute strike he took too much time over.

Evans made three substitutions in an attempt to get his side back into the game and Crawley had the home side on the back-foot for the last ten minutes without being able to grab an equaliser.

Mithun Nayee went closest with a couple of decent efforts.

Grays: Butcher, Black, Stuart, Elliott, Taylor (Slabber 90), Davis, Welsh (Berry 81), Wilnis, Cogan, Beavon, Thurgood. Subs not used: Jones, Sweeney.

Crawley: Rayner 7, Gaia 7, Rents 7 (Bulman 70) 7, Forrest 6, Matthews 6, Hurren 7, Killeen (Nayee 79) 6, Shaw 6, Malcolm 6, Lake-Edwards 8, Napper (Wilson 60) 7. Subs not used: Cook, Quinn.

Referee: A.Hendly.

Attendance: 630.