Midfielder Danny Brown thought his days at Crawley were numbered before the arrival of new boss John Hollins.

The former Oxford United player made his first start for three months in Hollins' second game in charge at Halifax on Saturday.

Brown had been so far out of the first team picture under previous manager Francis Vines that fans only knew he was still at the club when they spotted him sitting in the stand in his suit on matchdays.

Brown has revealed he was expecting to leave in the January transfer window because he was so far down the pecking order.

But now he has targeted a run in the side after impressing in the 2-2 draw at The Shay Stadium.

He said: "I was out of the picture for some time, so it was great just to play a game again. I don't know what the situation was before but I thought I would go in January.

"It looked as though I was on my way out so I was ready to keep my head down and wait until then.

"The new manager has come in and it seems to have gone full circle for me. He has given everyone a fresh start and I feel part of it again.

"I was happy with how I played at Halifax but more to the point the management were very happy, so that does me no harm.

"Hopefully now I will be able to hold my place and play a few more games."

Brown says his troubles started in the first game of the season when he broke a bone in his foot at York.

Despite the injury, he played three of the following five games and struggled for form and fitness.

He said: "I came in from Oxford in pre-season and broke a foot in the first game. I tried to play after that and took so many painkillers they were popping out of my eyes but obviously I was not playing to my full potential and I ended up falling out with people about it.

"What they didn't understand was that I was running around with a broken foot, trying to do a job for the team. But looking back on it, I shouldn't have played on because I was not making things any better for myself."

Brown says there is a better atmosphere at the club since Hollins and assistant Alan Lewer took over two weeks ago.

He said: "Everyone is on a high at the moment and things feel different around the place. The management have basically come in with strong ideas and have almost forced them selves upon people, which is the right thing to do.

"It is a good environment and there is a bit of togetherness now. We saw it on Saturday, which was probably the first time we have ground out a result against a very good team."

Hollins must decide whether to keep Brown or recall fit-again Simon Wormull for tomorrow's home game against Tamworth.

Wormull has made a full recovery from the viral infection which forced him to miss Saturday's trip to Yorkshire.

Hollins said: "Simon is in contention to start, like everyone else. He is a quality player and someone I like but the players that played on Saturday did extremely well.

"A bit of competition does not hurt anybody and it is my job to make the difficult decisions about what to do."

Tamworth have won one of their last four league games and are third-bottom in the Conference, level on points with Reds, but are on the back of the best result in their history.

The Lambs beat League One Hartlepool 2-1 to reach the FA Cup first round for the first time last week.

Hollins said: "They have done extremely well in the Cup. To knock out a league team is no mean feat, so we know it will be a hard game and we will treat them with respect.

"But all I worry about is what my team do, I don't look at them, and we are planning to win."

Striker Danny Ekoku has recovered from a back problem but last week's late-point saver Tris Whitman is not allowed to play as part of his loan deal from Tamworth.