David v Goliath - Crawley Town prepare to face Birmingham City with 23 points and £37 million separating the sides

Reds are preparing to host League One title favourites Birmingham City at the Broadfield Stadium on Monday, December 23, (8pm kick off) in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

According to the latest findings by the transfermarkt.co.uk website, £37.32m separates the two squad values and as well as this, 23 points in the league separate Crawley in 21st and Birmingham in second.

But Elliot believes it is a great opportunity for all those involved with the club when speaking before the game.

He said: “It'll be a great occasion for us. Obviously, the fixtures haven't been as fortunate in terms of the fact that we've got to play late on the 23rd and early on the 26th but I think that this is a fixture that probably everyone will look forward to, as it is a bit of a David vs Goliath story.

“We're just going to attack in our own way and go and showcase ourselves and I think it's a great reflection of where the club's at coming up against Birmingham. Obviously, it's all about the stature of the club, their history, and obviously the financial difference between the two clubs is enormous.It's something we should all be proud of, the fact that we're hosting teams of that calibre, not just Birmingham, but other teams in that league.

“We just want to continue what we've been doing in terms of the performances and the results other than Saturday. The performance was pretty good but the result obviously wasn't what we wanted. I felt like it was more three points lost than a point lost in the end. We just want to continue that against Birmingham and I think it's a good opportunity for our players, especially a lot of our younger players who haven't been at this level, to test themselves against the best players at this level.”

Reds have picked up important points in games against the bigger sides like Huddersfield and Charlton but even when they have missed out on these points, Elliot’s side have put in a good performance which was most recently evident in their 4-3 defeat against Peterborough.

“That's probably what the lads have done well since I've been here, is that the bigger games against the bigger clubs, they've really risen to the occasion because it's an opportunity for me and the coaching staff and obviously the players themselves on the pitch to go and test themselves against the very best” said Elliot.

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He continued: “Obviously, Birmingham definitely fall into that category. I don't think there's any doubts they'll get promoted this year. I think the occasion for us has to be something we learn how to manage so, hopefully, when we play in bigger games going forward, we know what they're like, how to handle that, how to handle it on Sky, all the things that come with taking yourself up the league playing in front of bigger audiences.

“I really hope we relish it because I think it's a great occasion for everyone at the club and hopefully everyone who comes along will enjoy the night.”

With Joy Mukena suspended for the highly anticipated clash, Elliot gave a squad update and hinted that Dion Conroy and Junior Quitirna could feature in the final game before Christmas.

“ Dion's [Conroy] looking good, he's had a real tough one with a couple of setbacks so it's been brilliant to have him. He's been excellent around the place, coming to the games, supporting the lads off the pitch so with Joy being suspended, it's an opportunity for other players there and obviously whether Dion's ready to start or not. We'll see how he is closer to the game because we still need to get his load and it's his first four weeks of training.

“Junior coming back is a massive plus for us because he gives us that extra bit of threat. He was excellent before he got injured and he's worked really hard in the gym so hopefully he recovers and, we'll get him involved in some capacity but, other than that we're pretty much as we was, a few issues, a few niggles.

“The squad's quite light and, we've got a few lads playing with injuries but it's always going to be the case and one thing I say is they never pull out, they always give everything for the club. What we're looking forward to on Monday is seeing the lads who go out there, are going to be lads that give us absolutely everything and 100% buy-in to everything we do and give us the biggest work rate we can ask for because that's what it's going to take to compete against a team like Birmingham.”