Steve Evans admits Salisbury are the last side Crawley want to be playing during their poor run of form.

Reds have won just once in their last nine games ahead of their home clash tonight with a Salisbury team who have beaten them in all four of their previous Conference meetings.

The Whites would be above Crawley had it not been for a ten-point deduction for entering administration.

Evans said: “We could have done without playing them at the moment. They are a good side full of good players and (manager) Tommy Widdrington has done a great job. They will work hard and make it extremely difficult for us.”

Reds will be without the injured Sam Rents, Danny Forrest and Charles Ademeno, who had a scan on his troublesome knee injury yesterday.

Barry Cogan starts a three-match ban after his red card in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Hayes which left Reds nearer to the bottom four than the play-off zone for the first time this season. Lewis Killeen is Cogan’s likely replacement in midfield for what would be his first start since September 1.

Evans is still hoping to bring in a new face to boost a threadbare squad after a move for Salisbury’s Matt Tubbs, who has scored 14 goals this season, was turned down last week.

Salisbury general manager Nick Holmes said: “We’ve got one of if not the smallest squads in this division so why would be want to reduce it further? Even if the player wanted to move would it be in our interests to move sideways to Crawley who are three places above us in the table?”