Crawley Town ready to start pre-season - but games are 'too soon' for this key pair

Reds fans can expect to see a mixture of triallists and new signings at East Court – but two players they won’t see are Ben Gladwin and Dion Conroy. They pair were injured at the end of last season – Gladwin knee and Conroy achilles – and are still on the road to recovery. But there were promising steps this week.

Lindsey said: “Ben trained with the group today [Monday] but the games will be too soon for them to be involved with unfortunately, certainly this week. Dion’s just starting to get out and do some running, straight line running, so he’s a bit behind Ben.”

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With Lindsey still looking to strengthen the squad, getting his players competitive minutes and wanting to implement his shape and tactics, he is looking forward to the pre-season games. “[I am looking for a] a little bit of everything,” said Lindsey.

"From a conditioning point of view, we are looking to get numbers in a competitive environment from the players. It’s ok doing all the training sessions we have done but we want them getting used to competing against another team again, that’s important.

“We have worked on the shape of the team in and out of possession, so we want to look at few bits like that on the pitch. There will be some triallists involved as well.”

Reds face Three Bridges on Saturday (July 15), the Dover next Tuesday (July 18) and Crystal Palace on Wednesday (July 19). And Lindsey confirmed Reds fans can expect the new signings to be involved in next few games alongside triallists and current players.