Crawley Town boss looking forward to having key players back to bolster squad for busy festive period

So far this season, Crawley have struggled with injuries but things could soon be getting better as we head into the Christmas period.

Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot has issued an update on captain Conroy and joint top goalscorer this season Quitirna ahead of Reds clash against Peteborough United. Both players have been suffering with long term injuries and Conroy has not played in a competitive fixture since The League Two play-off final at Wembley in May.

Speaking on the players, Elliot said: “Dion [Conroy] and Junior [Quitirna] have trained, this is their first full week back in training. I don't know if it will be too early to see them on Saturday but going into the Christmas period it will be brilliant to have them back within the squad.

“Dion's been really unlucky with his injury, he had a setback six or seven weeks ago just as we came in but he was on the training pitch and you can see his quality and obviously being the captain he's been at all the games and been brilliant around the dressing room as well.

“We've seen his [Quitirna] real quality and what he can bring to the team and Junior's worked really hard with Ricky in the gym. Physically he's in a fantastic shape, he's put on weight and is working on the things he needs to work on to make himself more robust because we know he's got the quality.

“To have our captain and Junior back in the attacking option it's going to be brilliant for us but we'll just have to assess Saturday and see if that's viable or not because we don't want to rush them back too much and miss out on them, especially with the amount of games that are coming up in the next few weeks or so.”

Over the Christmas and New Year period, Crawley will play five times in 12 days starting with Birmingham City on December 23 and ending with Barnsley on January 4. Defensively, Elliot has been forced to start Toby Mullarkey, Joy Mukena and Charlie Barker on numerous occasions as he has not had other players available in those positions.

Conroy is slowly returning from injury at the right time which means that Elliot will have more choice picking his defence in this upcoming period.

Speaking on selection issues he said: “ I don't think they've been tough at this moment in time, it's not going to be tough decisions when you've got five games in 11 days so I think it's probably perfect timing for us as a squad.

“Toby, Joy and Charlie have probably played too much in terms of we couldn't even rest them for some of the Bristol Street Motors games and obviously the only reason Toby missed the game [at Charlton] was because of the suspension.

“The challenge is there for the lads - you do well, you stay on the team. Obviously we know what an excellent player Dion is and obviously the qualities he brings so for me it's not so much of a tough decision but just knowing that we've got a stronger squad and there's more depth. We know we're going to need it because of the nature of this league and as we’ve seen with Flinty, who was exceptional for us before his injury, you just don't know what's around the corner so the stronger the squad the better place we'll be in.”