Striker Gavin Tomlin insists it is only a matter of time before he shows why Crawley manager John Gregory was so keen to sign him.

Tomlin has yet to open his account for Reds in 16 appearances since arriving from Port Vale in the summer for an undisclosed fee.

He admits he has failed to make the kind of impact he had hoped for due to a combination of injury problems and being asked to play on the wing.

The 31-year-old has started the last two matches in his preferred role up front although the arrival of Shaun Miller on loan from Coventry on Thursday could see him drop back to the bench for today’s home game against Chesterfield.

Tomlin said: “I have not been particularly happy with my form so far. I expected to come here and score goals as a striker and I haven’t managed to do that yet.

“I have been playing in various positions but I’m playing in my most prominent position now so I think you’ll see the best out of me.

“I am completely fit so there are no excuses on that front. I want to start scoring goals and help the team to win games.

“I have gone through patches like this before in my career. At Southend I played 15 games without scoring and in the next 15 I scored in every game.

“When you get the first one they just seem to come. That is the life of a striker. You have to stay patient, believe in your ability, keep doing the right things and it will come.”

Tomlin’s memory lets him down slightly as he scored once in his first 15 games for Southend two years ago and then plundered 13 in his next 11 matches – although he did not score in every game.

Crawley could do with someone going on a similar hot streak at the moment to take the pressure off Izale McLeod who has scored seven of their 18 league goals this season.

Tomlin played alongside McLeod for the first time in the 2-2 draw with Scunthorpe United on Saturday and feels the two can strike up a potent partnership if they are paired together again for the visit of Chesterfield today. He added: “I’ve never had the chance to play alongside Izale before so I enjoyed it.

“The gaffer played me a bit further back earlier in the season and I prefer to be playing up alongside Izale.

“Izale is a fantastic striker to play with so hopefully we can create a good partnership and start scoring some goals.

“I think the way we play complements each other. He wants to go in behind and use his pace and I like to come off and bring people into the game so I think it could be a great partnership.

“He understands the game very well and I understand his game. There were little glimpses on Saturday at the end of the day it is about us scoring goals together.

“We need to create a partnership where we are beating up defences and I think we can do that.”