CRAWLEY boss Steve Evans is demanding that the Conference improve their “archaic” registration procedures after they became the third club this season to be deducted points.

Reds were docked four points for failing to register Isaiah Rankin after a hearing at Conference headquarters in Birmingham yesterday despite appeals from secretary Barry Munn and directors Susan Carter and Steve Mansell.

At the same meeting, Oxford United were deducted five points while Mansfield were docked four points in October.

Crawley have yet to decide whether to appeal but Evans says they will demand that the Conference check the details of every player in the league and believes it will throw up more unregistered players.

He said: “The system is archaic so we are going to insist that they go through every club and every player in a reasonable time and I think you’ll find a few more clubs will lose points.

“Barry Munn sent off Rankin’s registration in exactly the same way as every other player.

“In Conference north and south you have an individual registration number for every player which goes on the teamsheet. That wasn’t the case in the premier division before Rankin came to light – but it is now.”

Crawley chairman Vic Marley expressed his surprise at the leniency of Oxford’s punishment.

Their player concerned – midfielder Eddie Hutchinson – helped them win 11 points while injury-plagued Rankin, who has only made one league start, helped Reds collect seven points and three of those were in a game when he came on in the 88th minute to make one of four substitute appearances.

Marley said: “We are extremely disappointed with the decision which is even more surprising given the sanction awarded to Oxford for a similar but much deeper breach of the rules.

“The decision is hard to take given the flawed registration procedures the Conference had in place at the start of the season. I have sympathy for Oxford who have been victims like ourselves but there is no doubt we have been dealt with more harshly.”

The club will seek legal advice before deciding whether to appeal but a second points deduction since he became manager in July 2007 has left Evans bitterly disappointing and considering his own future.

Reds have dropped from third to seventh in the table although Evans believes his squad will pull together to overcome this latest setback.

He said: “I sometimes work 80-90 hours a week to get something right here at Crawley and then something like this happens to you.

“All you look for in terms of your punishment is fairness and in a couple of days time we will look at what has happened and then decide as a management team whether you want to fight and carry on.

“The players will be disappointed but they will just get on with it.

“It is the same as when Manchester United played at Southampton in grey shirts and lost. If you give players an excuse they will take it but what has happened will not be the difference between us winning games or not.

“I can’t fault the attitude of our players and what will get us through this is the togetherness of the squad.

“If we have a good January we will be back in the play-offs at the end of the month because things can change very quickly.”

Reds will give debuts to Lewis Chalmers and Jon Shaw, who joined last week, against Cambridge United in the FA Trophy fourth round tomorrow. The winners will be away to either Lewes or Havant & Waterlooville.