Crawley boss Mark Yates wants to bring home form to Hartlepool

He wants to put aside the mistakes which cost them the game in their 3-1 defeat at Morecambe in midweek when they travel to Hartlepool.

It will be a second marathon trip to the north for the players and fans in quick succession with 1,180 miles travelled in the space of five days.

An entertaining clash is on the cards for two teams next to each other in the table as 18th-placed Crawley face Hartlepool in 17th.

Yates said: “We were a little bit disappointed we didn’t get something from Tuesday night.

“We were on a good little run of two wins in a row which and were trying to get a third.

“Both teams were edgy and a bit tired. We’re not making any excuses. We played with plenty of energy in the second half and we are setting ourselves the target of doing that from the start.

“You need to beat the teams around you and they are just a place above us. They made a good start to the season, they had a wobble and now have taken four points from their last two games.

“Ronnie Moore’s an experienced manager who knows the time of day. But with a bit of effort we can play well against anyone.”

Yates has been careful to build in rest time into the week’s preparations after arriving home in the early hours from their last match.

He said: “This week we have kept training light - our coach got back to Crawley at 4.45am on Wednesday after the Morecambe game.

“The boys had a couple of days to recover and we go again on Saturday, so there is no excuse!

“Hartlepool have some experienced strikers who can score goals and they also have experience at the back.

“We’ll be aware of their weaknesses too but we are trying to focus on ourselves.”

Reds expect to select from the same squad which played against Luton and Morecambe with Joe McNerney, Gavin Tomlin and Lanre Oyebanjo all absent with injuries.

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