'It was really tough' - Crawley Town defender 'happy' to be back after lengthy injury absence

Flint, 26, re-joined the Reds on Wednesday (October 28) after his previous contract had expired at the end of last season.

The 26-year-old suffered an injury in February that required surgery in the summer, but his recovery took longer than initially expected.

But both Flint and the club revealed he has been training with them for about a month as he completed his on-pitch rehabilitation.

The defender said he was ‘really happy to be back in the fold’ after putting pen to paper on a new deal.

Flint said: “The medical team stayed in contact with me the whole time to make sure everything went well and I came back to train probably, a month ago, so it just seemed like the right fit.

“Obviously I know the club, know the boys and I was really, really happy to sign.”

The 26-year-old made 57 appearances for the Reds over two seasons, scoring twice.

Flint was a key figure in former manager Scott Lindsey’s side during the 2025-26 campaign before he was sidelined with a season-ending injury.

He said: “It was really tough to be fair. Obviously after the first one (injury), you thought that would be the solution, so when you're still feeling the pain – it was really tough.

“And I said in my interview with Crawley that it came at a good time, me coming back in to train with the boys, because it’s tough on your own, doing your own bits still with the problem.

“But then once the second surgery was done, it just flew [by], almost everything smoothly. So, ever since then it's been really good.”

Flint is available to face Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park this Saturday afternoon (October 31) under interim boss Kevin Blackwell.

The defender didn’t play a single minute under Colin Kazim-Richards, who was sacked as the Reds’ head coach on October 21.