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The U’s took the Football League outfit to penalties on Tuesday evening after holding the Reds to a goalless draw in 90 minutes.

Crawley missed their opening two penalties, while Hastings successfully converted their first three. The U’s missed the chance to win the game with the score at 3-2, but Ryan Worrall fired home the fifth spot kick to see Hastings advance to the third round 4-3 on penalties.

Elphick said: “To be honest I really expected it. We’ve got a really talented squad ourselves and were playing against almost their reserve players.

Ryan Worrall netted Hastings United's winning penalty in their Sussex Senior Cup shootout victory over Football League Crawley Town. Pictures by Scott White

“It’s not such a giant-killing feat, it’s just part of the process. We felt we had a chance.

“All we wanted to do was perform well. I wasn’t too worried about the result, but I felt if our performance was good the results would come anyway. Luckily it did.

“I know it was in a penalty shootout but I felt our second half efforts, in particular, deserved a win.”

Saturday saw Hastings snap a three-game Isthmian Premier losing run with a 4-1 home win over Haringey.

Alex Brefo of Hastings United turns Crawley's Caleb Chukwuemeka

Borough lead at the break, but second half penalties from Sam Adams and Joe Gbode, and further goals from Gbode and Chinedu McKenzie, completed the comeback.

Elphick said: “I wasn’t overly happy with the first half but I spoke to the lads at half-time and addressed a couple of things.

“What delighted me was the reaction, because after three defeats we were maybe a little low on confidence.

“But they showed their bravery and courage to get on the ball and do what we asked. It paid dividends.”

Hastings keeper Louis Rogers saves in the shootout

This Saturday sees Hastings entertain division-above Chippenham in the FA Trophy second round.

The Bluebirds have enjoyed an excellent run in this season’s FA Cup, and have a mouth-watering second round tie at League One Burton to look forward to next weekend.

Elphick said: “They’re struggling in the league but they’ve had a good FA Cup run. They play Burton the following week, so I’m hoping that they may have one eye on the FA Cup.”

Hastings United manager Elphick: We expected to beat Crawley Town in Sussex Senior Cup