IT cannot have been long into this horror show when Crawley’s players knew their chance of a Sunday morning lie-in had disappeared.

In fact, as they sleepwalked through the first half, it was hard to believe Steve Evans’ side had even got out of bed on Saturday.

After three impressive wins, two of them against sides expected to challenge for promotion, this was a repeat of Reds’ first-day performance at Mansfield where they also conceded four goals.

Little wonder, then, that the biggest cheer of the day came when it was announced that England’s lead at The Oval had gone beyond 500.

Lethargic from the start, Reds found themselves 3-0 down after 39 minutes after conceding two penalties in two minutes and there was no way back against a well organised Gateshead side who played some impressive passing football and worked tirelessly all over the pitch.

Those attributes had been much in evidence in Reds’ wins over Wrexham and Cambridge last week but not on Saturday where the creative spark of Thomas Pinault, who was on the bench but didnot get on, was badly missed.

Neither Evans or his assistant Paul Raynor would talk to the press afterwards, so it was left to striker Charlie Ademeno to explain one of the worst performances under Evans which no one, particularly those who had seen the superb midweek win at Cambridge, could have seen coming.

Ademeno said: “We couldn’t get going and then the two penalties just before half-time killed us.

“They were both a bit soft. We thought that their striker was offside for the first and for the second Simon (Rusk) played the ball. That was a poor decision by the referee.

“At 3-0 they just sat deep and made sure they didn’t concede. They doubled up on the key members of our team and nothing went right for us, We got into some good positions but the end product wasn’t good enough.”

Referee Hopkins became a convenient scapegoat for the home fans but you could see why he gave both spot kicks.

He did not spot Chris Giles’ tug on Michael Mackay inside the box but his sharp-eyed assistant did and Martin Brittain confidentally doubled the lead given to the visitors after 19 minutes when Kris Gate’s late run into the box enabled him to get on the end of Mackay's cross.

The second penalty was more contentious and perhaps Rusk did play the ball first. But why did he need to make the challenge on Wayne Phillips in the first place when the Gateshead striker was running away from goal towards the touchline?

Whatever wake-up call a fuming Evans issued at half-time it was short and sweet. Crawley emerged for the second half five minutes before their opponents but it made little difference.

Reds played with a better tempo but the damage had been done although it might have been interesting had the normally deadly Jamie Cook not missed with a header and curling shot before being taken off midway through the second half.

Sam Rents did pulll one back with a screamer from 30 yards with eight minutes remaining but it was nothing more than a consolation and there was still time for Crawley to concede another terrible goal in stoppage time when neither Giles nor goalkeeper Simon Rayner dealt with a speculative long ball and Graeme Armstrong ensured both had egg on their faces as he stole in to make it 4-1.

The tiny band of Gateshead fans could hardly believe it as they celebrated their first win since promotion but it promises to be a long week on the training ground for the Crawley squad, starting yesterday.

And it would be a big surprise if there was not a positive response from Evans’ men when Grays visit on Saturday.

Crawley: Rayner, Rusk, Rents, Broadhurst, Giles, Hutchinson, Cogan, Killeen (sub: Malcolm 45), Smith (Louis 45), Cook (Forrest 67), Ademeno. Unused subs: Pinault, Jordan.

Yellow cards: Rusk (foul), Forrest (foul) Gateshead: Provett, Baxter, Robinson, Curtis, Jones, Gate (sub: Francis 71), Brittain (Harwood 75), Richardson, Mackay (Armstrong 60), Turnbull, Phillips. Uused subs: Farman, Forsyth.

Yellow cards: Brittain (foul), Turnbull (dissent) Referee: John Hopkins (Wickford).