Crawley Town boss Mark Yates looking for first home win against Leyton Orient
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The O’s were relegated along with Reds last season but have had a good start to their campaign, currently lying in third place under new manager Ian Hendon with six wins and three draws.
Athough they have twice won on the road, Crawley are still looking for their first home victory of the season.
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Hide AdYates said: “We are desperate to give our home supporters something to shout about.
“We are desperate for a home win. There’s still a belief around the place and we’ll get it right.”
Yates will be missing goalkeeper Freddie Woodman (England U19s), defender Josh Yorwerth (Wales U21s), Liam Donnelly (Northern Ireland U21s) and striker Shamir Fenelon (Repblic of Ireland U21s) due to international call-ups and tried to get this game postponed.
However their request was turned down by the Football League because three of their players on duty are loanees, which does not qualify them for postponement.
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Hide AdYates will be handing a League debut to No.2 goalkeeper Callum Preston while Joe McNerney and Gavin Tomlin have recovered from injury.
They all played in Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat by Southend in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
Yates said: “We’ve missed Joe - he was a little bit rusty but I was really pleased he played and will be a whole lot better for the 90 minutes.
“It’s great to have him back and it was good to have Gavin back who I haven’t seen all season (on the pitch) but has been infectous around the training ground.
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Hide Ad“We need everybody to be at it, we need that competition for places and we need people to stand-up to be counted and saying: ‘I want to be picked every week.’”
“There are still a lot of questions to be answered bit in the last three games we’ve been a lot better.
“To please these supporters who were great tonight and for our own sanity we need to get that first win, even if it’s a lucky 1-0.
“We need to make sure we’re focussed and concentrate on getting a big win on Saturday.”
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