'Massive' - Crawley Town back in action after mini-break and injured star could be in contention
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The last game the Reds played was on January 4 where they lost 3-0 to Barnsley in what was a disappointing performance.
Crawley are back at Broadfield Stadium for the first time since the loss against Birmingham City, with their scheduled being filled with away games and disrupted by home game postponements.
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Hide AdElliot has this time off as a positive and has now said that his team are ready to go into the second half of the season, and are well prepared for it.


He said: “It was nice to have the break, obviously the halfway point of the season as well, so you get a chance to reflect and make plans going forward into the second half of the season.
“Obviously starts with a big game at home, one we want to attack in every way and get three points and start the second half of the season well. We know we have got a tough run coming up after Saturday, but you can only control what’s in front of you.
“We need to attack Burton in every way we can, over the Christmas period with the injuries and people missing it really threw us a little bit and not really having any wide players, we had to adapt a little bit.
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Hide Ad“Just a bit of a reset and then kick on again because I think first half of the season has probably shown us things that we can do really well, good results, good performances and things that we need to improve on.”
Crawley have got 23 games left this season, whilst having played every team bar Stevenage, and find themselves 21st after a poor festive period.
They have the chance to bounce back against a relegation rival, with this looking like a big game for both teams.
Elliot said: “Obviously when you play teams in and around you it obviously feels like it’s bigger but ultimately, we should attack to win every game.
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Hide Ad“Apart from a couple of instances, I think we’ve probably been competitive and been able to be disappointed in games we haven’t won against bigger teams, whereas every other game I felt like we’ve attacked it well, we’ve created opportunities, we’ve shown really good glimpses, we’ve picked up points, we’ve picked up results, but other times we’ve been unlucky not to.
“The big thing is consistency. We can’t get too high or low because there is 23 games, 69 points left to play for and we want to win every game, especially at home against teams around you, but we’ve got to look at the big picture in terms of there’s still half a football season to be played and a lot of winnable games and a lot of games where you’re not expected to win.”
With Crawley’s poor form over the Christmas period, it is now very important that the Reds come back with a victory, especially for their home support who have not seen their team play a home fixture in almost a month.
“A win is massive in football,” Elliot said.
“The big thing with the identity of the club is that it’s about how you win. Last season into this season it’s not just about the wins we’ve got it’s about how we’ve got them wins.
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Hide Ad“For me it is about the mentality, how we are without the ball, definitely how we are with the ball, and simplifying what we have done because when we’ve simplified our press, our play, then we’ve been really affective, and we can start that on Saturday.”
Burton currently sits bottom of the table and are without a win in eight games, leaving them with a lot of work to do in the second half of the season.
Despite this, Elliot is still wary of The Brewers, with him having praised their manager Gary Bowyer, and will be cautious of their attack.
This includes former Crawley star Danilo Orsi, who was their top goal scorer last season, which massively helped their promotion through the play-offs.
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Hide Ad“Definitely, I think Gary [Bowyer] improved them, they’ve got good pace up front and in the wide areas, they still play similar types of football, they’re always going to try and be aggressive with the ball, and move the ball, which they do, they had a couple of good players that have returned and added to them, so we know it’s going to be a tough game.
“I think their position in the league is down to the fact that they were managerless for a while, now they’ve got a very experienced manager who’s had a lot of success and has made them very organised, so they’re going to be really difficult to break down.
“We can’t control what Burton do, but we can control what we do.”
This period with no games has come at a good time for the Reds, with players coming back from injury and working their way back into the squad, giving Elliot more choices when picking his team.
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Hide AdHe said: “Happens at every football club and a lot of lads playing with injuries and niggles and obviously missing a few, obviously missing Harry [Forster] and Ade [Adeyemo] and Darcy limited our options in terms of wide players, so having them back is good.
“We will have to see how everyone is over the next couple of days, there is still a few question marks on a few things, but the squad is definitely looking healthier in terms of bodies and numbers, so it’s good for competition.”
For Ronan Darcy, this break has come at the perfect time, with the winger having the chance to recover from his injury and get himself back in the squad for another key period of the season.
On the injury update, Elliot said: “He’s been getting better, he’s been back in training, going to see how he is, if he is available to be able to start or be on the bench. That’s a positive as he was struggling with that over Christmas and hopefully having Ade and Harry back as well.
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Hide Ad“We need to monitor a couple of others due to knocks and niggles but hence why the break was probably a good thing for us, but there is always something that pops up especially with the amount of games, now coming to a period of where it is thick and fast, so we are going to need the whole squad.”