Isaiah Rankin has won his three-month battle to regain full fitness.

But the Crawley striker admits the hard work is only just beginning as he tries to break into a side back to their best.

Rankin will again be on the bench when Reds start their FA Trophy campaign with a tricky first round tie at Southern League midland division high-fliers Chesham United tomorrow.

Rankin, 30, has made nearly 300 appearances for ten clubs – the majority of them up front.

But he now has to dislodge Jamie Cook and Jon-Paul Pittman, both of whom scored in last Saturday’s 4-0 win over Altrincham when Rankin came off the bench to make his first Blue Square premier appearance since August.

Between them, Pittman and Cook have scored 17 goals this season despite spells out of the team because of injury.

Rankin said: “It has been hard watching the boys training and not being involved. I have missed the banter and things like that.

“Now I just want to play, get some minutes under my belt, then get 90 minutes. When that happens the performances will come. We have a lot of matches coming up so hopefully I will be involved at some stage.”

Rankin was signed in July but made just three appearances, two of them as a substitute, before he suffered a ruptured hamstring. But it was only when he went back to Arsenal, his first club, that the extent of the injury was properly diagnosed after he had made an aborted attempt at a comeback in October in a Senior Cup tie against Albion reserves.

Rankin said: “I had tried to come back a couple of times but each time the next day my leg blew up.

“When you keep coming back and breaking down again it is very frustrating and you think: ‘What is it?’ “(Crawley boss) Steve Evans let me go and see Colin Lewin, who is part of the physiotherapy team at Arsenal, I had a scan and discovered the extent of the injury.”

Reds are likely to be unchanged against Chesham, providing skipper Chris Giles recovers from a sore hamstring which has kept him off the training ground this week. Five players were sent home from training yesterday with flu symptoms but they are all expected to recover in time.

Chesham are unbeaten in their last 13 league and cup games and haven’t lost at home this season while last Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Bedworth left them fifth in the Southern League midland division.

Evans said: “We have had them watched and it is going to be difficult. They have a number of players with experience at League and Conference level and a very good squad for the level they play at which is why they are doing so well in their league.

“The conditions will probably suit an upset. The pitch isn’t the best so we will need to adapt but the reality is that if we are at it we should have enough in our locker.”

After their early exit from the FA Cup, Crawley could do with winning their next two games from a financial perspective.

As well as a place in the last 32, Saturday’s winners will also collect £5,000 while £4,500 is up for grabs when Reds host Conference south high-fliers Chelmsford in the quarter-finals of the Setanta Shield on Tuesday.