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Smith strikes for Crawley in friendly

Crawley striker Jonte Smith

Bermudian striker Jonte Smith opened his scoring account for Crawley Town’s senior team in a 3-2 pre-season win over Conference side Bromley FC at Hayes Lane at the weekend.Smith rolled the ball past goalkeeper George Howard in the 64th minute after being played in by midfielder Nicky Adams.Two minutes earlier Smith assisted in Adams’ goal that put the visiting Red Devils ahead. Midfielder Billy Clarke netted Crawley Town’s third with Adams also playing a part in the buildup.Bromley replied through strikes from midfielders Ali Fusieni and Danny Waldren who scored with a thumping free kick from 25 yards.The Red Devils currently boast a perfect 2-0 record in pre-season play.Smith, 18, inked a one-year professional contract at Crawley Town last April as a reward for a number of outstanding performances with the Red Devils’ Academy and reserve teams. The son of former national cricket skipper Clay Smith banged in 25 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Wycombe Wanderers in the English FA Youth Cup.The former North Village youth player has passed up the opportunity to represent Bermuda at upcoming Under-20 World Cup qualifiers and Digicel Cup commitments in favour of placing all emphasis on his professional career with the Red Devils.“Sadly, I won’t be involved in those tournaments because it’s right in between my pre-season training and basically that’s the time I will get the best opportunity to show my coaching staff how good I am and that I deserve to be involved in the first team,” Smith said, in an interview with The Royal Gazette last month. “It’s definitely hard having to turn down playing for your country, but right now I have to think about my future and my career.“It was a difficult decision to make because obviously it would be a great experience to play for Bermuda in these sort of tournaments. But then again I also have to think about what’s best personally going forward and that sort of stuff.”Crawley Town gained promotion to the English League One after finishing third behind League Two champions Swindon Town and runners- up Shrewsbury last season.