Crawley Town skipper Sonny Bradley believes central defensive partner Josh Yorwerth has a big future ahead of him.

Wales under-21 international Yorwerth has played 18 games for the Reds since joining on loan from Ipswich Town in September.

Before joining Crawley, Yorwerth’s senior football experience was limited to three Capital One Cup appearances for Ipswich Town earlier this season, which included a goal on his debut at Stevenage and a start in a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

A product of Cardiff City’s academy, Yorwerth was released by the Bluebirds last summer and joined Ipswich, who quickly loaned him out to Crawley to broaden his football horizons.

Although he has made a few mistakes, that is all part of a youngster’s learning and Bradley has been impressed by his young colleague.

Ahead of today’s trip to Accrington Stanley, Bradley told The Argus: “He has taken to it well. For his first game at Newport, he came straight in, he didn’t even train with us, he hadn’t seen us play and I thought he did really well. From then he has just kicked on.

“He has made a couple of mistakes, given a couple of penalties away but that is normal for a centre-half of his age and experience.

“He has still got a lot to learn but if he keeps his head down, keeps training hard and putting the work in there is no reason why he can’t play Championship football if not better.”

Bradley knows how important loan spells are to young players.

During his formative years with home-town club Hull City, the 24-year-old had loan spells with Harrogate Town, Swedish side IK Frej and Aldershot Town, who were playing in League Two at the time.

He said: “I had the option when I was 19 to go out to Aldershot on loan in League Two. I took it straightaway because managers at this level and even League One, they look at what experience you have.

“It was key for me to get out on loan. I didn’t want to be leaving Hull at 21 with no experience or no league games under my belt because that doesn’t look good on my CV.

“I don’t think you can play academy football up to 21, then go out to League Two or League One and expect to fit in to the way they play because it doesn’t work like that.

“If I was advising a youngster at a Premier League or a Championship club I would say get out on loan as soon as you can and get some valuable experience.”

It has been a season of ups and downs for Crawley. They have had winless runs when spirits on and off the field have been low, plus positive runs which they have been unable to carry on to the next level.

Bradley acknowledges the problem but feels that goes with the territory for a lot of teams on League Two. And the constraints of a tight budget have not helped manager Mark Yates either.

Bradley said: “I can’t remember the last time a team went a season without ups and downs. It is about how long your downs are for. If you can have a couple a bad games and come out of it straightaway, start doing well in the league that will determine where you finish.

“We have seen it every season where a team will go maybe ten or 12 games without a win and the next minute they are in the bottom two. Every team in this league has their ups and downs, it is about how fast you make it out of them.

“I don’t think we have had any consistency. Throughout the full season I can’t remember the last time we put three or four wins together. That has been our target from the start but with so many players coming in and out it has been difficult.

“We had a good 1-0 win at Stevenage and that is what we needed because for a few weeks we hadn’t had a win. When that happens you start looking over your shoulder.”