Crawley Town boss gives injury update on key defender ahead of Charlton Athletic visit in the EFL Trophy

Scott Lindsey’s men have had a good start to their League Two campaign and will be looking to win and give squad players minutes in this Group J fixture – Aston Villa u21s and Sutton United are the other teams in the group.

The Reds come into the game on the back of a 3-3 draw away at Stockport County on Saturday where they came back from 2-0 to lead 3-2 before letting in a late equaliser to share the spoils.

Defender Dion Conroy – who would have been unlikely to play against Charlton anyway – missed Saturday’s game through injury. Lindsey said: “It's just a small kind of calf problem at the moment. It'll be fine. we'll see him soon. It's not a long lay off just a bit of a strain more than anything in his calf.”

But Reds fans can expect to see more minutes for squad players in this fixture. Lindsey said: “It's [the competition] important for giving players minutes, but it's a game that we've prepared properly for, you know, we've analyzed them. We're not sure what they'll do in terms of their team selection. They may go strong, they may not, we don't know, all we can do is watch how they've been playing and analyze them and prepare the team, which we've done today [Monday]. We've picked a team, there's players going to be playing, who needed game time, which gives us an opportunity to rest some of the players who've played a lot of games so that's good.

"We're really looking forward to the game. It's another game for some of the players to play in and I'm really looking forward to it. We've prepared them really well today. They've done all, all their preparation, all their set pieces and, they'll be coming to the game fully loaded, ready to, ready to try and beat Charlton.”

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One player who got some important minutes on Saturday was skipper Ben Gladwin. He made his first appearance of the season at Edgeley Park. He was replaced on 58 minutes. Lindsey said: “He has recovered really well. He's better for it. I think it was clear to see he was quite rusty. He'll be the first to admit it he was a bit rusty in moments in the game, but he's going to be.

“We have to break the seal with him. He has to get out there and start playing again. And Saturday was, was that game where we broke the seal with him. He got some some distance in his legs and he got some minutes in the game he'll be better for that moving forward. He'll just get sharper and sharper playing.”

The Reds are back in League Two action against Newport County on Saturday.