BYRON Glasgow hopes a successful spell with Crawley might earn him a second chance in the pro ranks.

The 20-year-old midfielder has joined Reds on a non-contract basis six months after he was kicked out of Reading for drug taking just when it appeared that he was ready to make his mark with the second division club.

Glasgow had joined the Royals in 1996 and made 26 league appearances last season, scoring three goals. And he will always have a place in the Reading history books after scoring the last ever goal at their old Elm Park ground in May 1997.

His performances last season, when he also scored three goals, were good enough to persuade manager Tommy Burns, who has subsequently left the club, to award Glasgow an extended contract. He even made his mother, Suzanne, £500 richer when he predicted he would score his first league goal against Notts County and she put £10 on him at odds of 50-1.

But the former Arsenal YTS trainee's football world fell apart in May when traces of cocaine and cannabis were found during a random FA drugs. He admitted a misconduct charge in July and was forced to undergo rehabilitation.

Glasgow is reluctant to talk about the drugs incident, except to say that he determined "to put the incident behind me."

Glasgow linked up with former Reading boss Jimmy Quinn at the start of the season at first division Swindon. Quinn wanted to sign him, but the cash-strapped Robins are losing £30,000 a week and couldn't afford to take him to the County Ground.

A trail at Northampton fell through when their manager Ian Atkins was sacked, but new Reading manager Alan Pardew is an old pal of Crawley boss Billy Smith and had no hesitation in recommending that Glasgow tried to re-build his career at Broadfield Stadium when Smith returned to the club a fortnight ago and began the task of revamping the squad.

Glasgow's debut at Halesowen a fortnight ago was his first competitive match for over five months and he lacked match fitness. But he set up two goals in Reds' first win of the season against Rothwell last week and produced another impressive display in the 1-0 defeat at Kings Lynn on Saturday.

"Alan (Pardew) recommended Crawley to me and said they would look after me and that's what has happened, I'm really enjoying myself," said Glasgow. "I believe I'm capable of getting back into league football and this is a shop window for me. When I get fully fit I believe I'm good enough to dominate games at this level and I have to if I want to get back into the league.

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