Boss Steve Evans believes his Crawley squad is the best in the club’s Conference history.

Now he has challenged them to prove it starting against play-off hopefuls Torquay in the first of their tricky Bank Holiday double-header at Broadfield Stadium tomorrow.

Evans has rebuilt the squad which finished in a comfortable mid-table position last season although he has been unable to field his strongest team in the three games so far and will again be without striker Steve Fletcher and skipper Chris Giles against the Gulls.

But bullish Evans is confident Reds can still put on a show against one of the favourites for a play-off place.

He said: “We have the strongest squad the club has ever had but now we have to produce the performances to back it up.”

The Gulls crashed to a 2-0 home defeat against Ebsfleet United on Monday, a match Evans watched, and is expecting a reaction from Paul Buckle’s men.

“They didn’t play well but what I saw then won’t be the Torquay we see tomorrow,” he warned.

“They will be looking for a positive reaction but I know that there are a number of clubs Paul Buckle would rather be bringing his team too after a home defeat than Crawley.”

Evans believes his own side are capable of pushing into early play-off contention themselves by getting a good result on Saturday and then on Monday, when they go to another of the promotion favourites Stevenage Borough.

They have lost two of their first three games by the only goal to York and Forest Green, where they were beaten by a controversial penalty last Saturday. In between was a comfortable 3-0 win at Lewes.

Evans said: “We need to be a bit more ruthless. Against Forest Green we dominated the first half but didn’t get the goal which would have settled us down.

“No one could say Forest Green deserved to win and we were done by a terrible decision.

“It was hard to take, but we’ve had a good week on the training ground and we are getting more players fit.

“Three points tomorrow would be a huge thing for confidence to take into the Stevenage game.

“We’re aiming to go into the Northwich game at home on Saturday week in a top-ten position where we can push for the play-off places.”

By then Evans should have a full-strength squad to chose from with both Fletcher, who has been out for five weeks with an ankle problem, and Giles, who limped out of the York game after 20 minutes with a twisted knee, expected to be in contention.

Isaiah Rankin could make his first start tomorrow after recovering from a hamstring problem alongside Jamie Cook, who is nursing a slight groin injury. In Giles’ absence, defender Adam Quinn will make his home debut.

Evans added: “When we played Torquay last year there would probably have been seven or eight players in their side I would have taken for us. But that’s not the case now although it doesn’t mean we are going to beat them. Technically I think we’re good enough to match them.

“I know we can’t be fantastic in every game but there have been spells in each of the three so far when we have played very well.

“It’s just a case of putting it together on a more consistent basis.’ Torquay will have three ex-Reds in their ranks in midfielders Tyrone Thompson and Mustapha Carayol and striker Elliott Benyon while defender Lee Hodges, who joined from Championship outfit Plymouth in the summer, is expected to return after recovering from a neck injury.

Follow Crawley live against Torquay tomorrow at theargus.co.uk/matchdaylive