Jon Shaw is confident he can recapture the form which made him a Conference hot-shot and fire Crawley’s play-off bid.

The 25-year-old striker has joined Reds on loan until the end of the season from League Two Rochdale and will make his debut in tomorrow’s FA Trophy tie against Cambridge United if it beats the freeze.

Shaw has an outstanding goalscoring record at Conference level with 46 goals in 114 appearances for Burton and Halifax –- five of his goals coming against Crawley, including three for Halifax last season.

He said: “I’m perhaps back sooner in the Conference than I’d have liked but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

“I feel I can score goals at this level – I just hope the fans don’t hold it against me that I have scored a few goals against Crawley!”

Derby-based Shaw trained with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday, although a number of the faces would have been familiar.

Shaw has swelled the contingent of ex-Halifax players at the club to five, boss Steve Evans having recruited Adam Quinn, Jake Wright, Danny Forrest and Lewis Killeen at the start of the season.

Shaw added: “It’s the perfect move for me. I obviously know the other lads well but Quinny is probably my biggest mate of the four.

“We played together in the youth team at Sheffield Wednesday while Lewis and I have been texting each other a lot since the move became a possibility.”

While the other four headed south when Halifax went bust in the summer, Shaw got a move back into League football with Rochdale.

But after scoring in only his second appearance for the club against Barnet in August Shaw suffered hamstring and ankle injuries, although he did play in three of Dale’s last four games.

“It has been a stop-start season for me so far but I’m fully fit now and looking forward to showing people what I can do,” he added.

Shaw describes himself as an old-fashioned type centre forward which suggests boss Steve Evans may have to switch from his preferred 4-3-3 formation to get the best out of Shaw alongside either Jon-Paul Pittman or, when he is fit, Jamie Cook.

He said: “I’ve never been a skillful player with bags of tricks but work hard, will always give defenders a tough time and it’s great that Crawley are a side who seem to create lots of chances in a game. I think I have got a decent goalscoring record at this level so hopefully I can finish those chances off.”

Because so many of his mates are now Sussex based, Shaw has been following Crawley’s progress this season and is confident they can sustain their play-off challenge, even with the prospect of a points deduction still hanging over the club.

He said: “I noticed they were flying at the start of the season and although things slowed up for a while their recent form has been really good.

“I had four seasons in the league and know how tough it is to get out of it but I’m sure we can push on in the second half of the season and hopefully reach the play-offs.”

If that does happen, Crawley will invoke a clause in his loan deal allowing him to remain for the play-offs.

He added: “What would be great would be to do it with a couple of games to spare so we are nice and relaxed but that’s a long way off – there are still so many games to be played.”

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