Gillingham's second string endured a painful afternoon as Crawley Town hit them for six in the sunshine at Broadfield Stadium.
Few could have predicted the eventual outcome, as the visitors started brightly, and were unfortunate not to claim an early lead when Sam Fisher headed Chris Palmer's second minute corner over the bar from five yards out.
The home side gradually grew in confidence and gave the Gills a shot across the bows in the 18th minute, Forrest teeing up Killeen to flash a drive inches wide of Daran Hawkes left-hand upright.
That warning went unheeded and Crawley duly exacted the punishment four minutes later, Forrest the supplier again with a ball over the top of defence that Michael Malcolm gratefully dispatched with a neat lob over the advancing Hawkes.
On 33 minutes, the home side struck again, skipper Adam Quinn heading home at the far post from Malcolm's deep corner. To add to Gillingham's troubles, Tom Wynter was substituted soon after leaving the visitors with an inexperienced centre-half partnership of first-year apprentices Callum Davies and Jack Evans.
The Gills best chance of the half came five minutes later, Crawley's Matt Langston nearly heading into his own net, whilst taking evasion action to clear Fisher's effort on goal.
HT 0-2
28 seconds after the interval, the visitors were caught napping as a long ball sent Malcolm clean through on goal, leaving the Crawley forward with a simple finish to net the Sussex side's third.
Gillingham should have grabbed a consolation minutes later, as Palmer's corner from the right was met at the back post by Jack Evans but trialist Marc Manga, arguably the best of the three on display, headed wide with the goal at his mercy.
On 50 minutes, apprentice keeper Daran Hawkes reacted superbly well to deny Lewis Killeen at point-blank range, but could do nothing to prevent Michael Malcolm claiming a hat-trick shortly after. The pacey forward collected a neat pass, from former Gill Barry Cogan, and placed his shot beyond the Gills custodian and into the bottom left hand corner.
It was 5-0 in the 58th minute as the visitors, still reeling from the fourth, failed to deal with a Cogan corner allowing Eddie Hutchinson to crash a sweet volley into the roof of the net.
Crawley completed the scoring in the 66th minute, capitalising on more dodgy defending from the Gills. Hawkes and Evans both failed to clear a seemingly harmless free-kick from Cogan, leaving Danny Forrest to stab home the loose ball on the goal line.
Full-backs Chris Palmer and Jack Payne both attempted to restore some pride with good shots from distance in the latter stages but in truth Reds keeper Nick Jordan was rarely troubled. Gillingham will need to tighten up if they are to avoid similar humiliation when Q.P.R. reserves visit Priestfield next Wednesday afternoon.
Gillingham: Daran Hawkes, Jack Payne, Chris Palmer, Rashid Yussuff, Callum Davies, Tom Wynter (Jack Evans 33), Serge Mitanga (Jack Grant 46), Alex Brown, Kieren Joseph, Marc Manga (Liam Geering 71), Sam Fisher.
Subs not used: Conor Quinn, Callum Day.
Crawley Town: Nick Jordan, Nick Carter, Darragh Ryan, Eddie Hutchinson (Tommy Brewer 62), Matt Langston (Charlie Dodd 64), Adam Quinn, Barry Cogan (Mithun Nayee 67), Byron Napper, Danny Forrest, Michael Malcolm, Lewis Killeen.
Subs not used: Simon Raynor, Karl Broadhurst.
