Crawley Town could be using EIGHTH goalkeeper of the season for trip to League One champions Birmingham City
It’s been a tough season for Crawley Town in all aspects, but the goalkeeping situation as been a nightmare – and they could be about the use their eighth stopper of the season
Luke Hutchinson became the seventh keeper to play for Reds in the 3-1 defeat to Leyton Orient on Saturday. He joined on an emergency loan from Bolton due to Jojo Wollacott’s latest injury.
As well as Wollacott and Hutchinson, Reds fans have seen Eddie Beach, Connal Trueman, Mathew Cox, Thimothée Lo-Tutala and Jasper Sheik between the sticks this season. Crawley have Ryan Sandford in the squad but he has been out with an injury all season.
And it looks like the injured Wollacott will miss the trip to Birmingham on Good Friday meaning Crawley are dipping into the emergency loan market again.
It’s been a crazy situation for Lindsey, who has already used three keepers in five games since his return, and previous boss Rob Elliot to handle.
When I asked Lindsey to clarify the situation, he laughed and said: “How long have I been here? Three weeks, I have used three or four keepers already!”
And when asked if sorting the keeper situation is a priority to sort in the summer, he gave a run down of what the problems have been.
"I think January, I wasn't here but I know we signed the goalkeeper from Brentford [Cox], who then got quite a bad injury early February so the window had shut.
“And then we're kind of left with Jojo [Wollacott, Sandy's [Ryan Sandford], who is just about coming back and not 100% fit yet, and obviously Jaspers [Sheik], who a young goalkeeper who's not had any experience at all.
"So the goalkeeping department, through probably nobody's fault really, has been in a bad situation, especially when Jojo goes away on international duty.
“It's just been one of them situations that I think from the injury from the goalkeeper we had from Brentford has probably not helped.
“I thought that maybe that could be the one that could play when Jojo wasn't available. Obviously he's got bad injuries so now we find ourselves in a position where if Jojo's hurt, which he is at the moment, we have to go and get another emergency loan to fill the space.
“It’s obviously is not ideal because you're chopping and changing a lot. But listen, it is what it is. We're not going to moan about it. We've just got to try and find the best solution around it.”
Reds travel to Birmingham on Good Friday and host Exeter City on Easter Monday as they look to pull off the great escape and avoid the drop to League Two.