Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey gives injury update on three key players and his assessment on squad fitness as they enjoy first day at new training ground

The players returned for testing at the Broadfield Stadium on Monday and Tuesday before having their first session at the new training ground at the University of Sussex Falmer Sports Complex today (Wednesday, June 28).

And Lindsey has been impressed with what he has seen so far in the payers and at the training complex. On the facilities, he said: “First of all, it’s more like a training ground in terms of where we were. We were in a cricket pavilion. The building itself was more geared towards a professional football club. The pitches are miles better although they do need some tlc, they are still better than where we were.

“The use of the gym on site as well, we do three gym sessions a week and the stuff in the gym is as important to me as the stuff on the grass. And to have the gym on site means we haven’t got to get in cars and travel to another gym, everything we need is on site.”

And with the players, most the squad had done the work needed over the summer break. “No players came back overweight but you can tell the ones who have done the work. There are one or two who are behind already. I am fully aware of who they are.

“But I also think the fitness standards are very, very high, they did a run today and they were off the charts. The fitness levels are high, I think Ricky [McFarlane], the new head of performance, was really surprised how fit a large number of the squad are.”

At the end of last season, Lindsey revealed that Dom Telford, Dion Conroy (achilles tear) and Ben Gladwin (knee) had been playing with injuries to help guide the club to safety, and he gave an update on where they are.

"Dom is full fit and training,” he said. “Dion had a tear in his achilles, we are being careful with him at the start but he will be integrated as we go on, same as Ben Gladwin. He had issues with his knees. Again he is being integrated.

"They are being integrated to the work on the grass but in the gym they are being loaded so they are doing quite a lot of strength work in the gym, which is what they need to do.”

Reds kick off their pre-season schedule at East Grinstead on Tuesday, July 11, and fans can expect to see a mixture of traillists and squad players.

Lindsey said: “It’s just over before we think about what team to put out. There will one or two because it’s important we have players in to look at. I am not going to say it’s going to a full team of triallists because our players need some minutes as well.”