Crawley boss John Gregory is confident Gwion Edwards and Ryan Dickson will be available for the busy festive period despite undergoing surgery yesterday.

The Wales winger and former Southampton full-back will both miss the trip to Bristol City next Saturday after having hernia operations but should be back for the visit of Port Vale on December 20.

Edwards has scored five goals in his last 11 games for Reds while Dickson has been pivotal in the 3-5-2 formation Gregory has adopted in the last four games since recovering from a knee injury.

Gregory said: “They should have had these operations three or four weeks ago but they wanted to wait until we had a bit of a break.

“They deserve a medal as they have been in agony after games. Ryan could hardly kick the ball 20 yards on Saturday but was still willing to stick his neck on the line for the team.

“It should take them ten days to recover so they probably won’t be ready for the Bristol City game but having it now saves them missing three or four games over Christmas.”

The absence of Edwards and Dickson will further reduce Gregory options for the trip to Ashton Gate with top scorer Izale McLeod starting a three-game ban. Striker Matt Harrold has a chance of returning from a thigh injury against Bristol City but midfielder Josh Simpson has made little progress after suffering a hamstring problem which has kept him out of the last four games.