Ryan Dickson believes Crawley’s fans could hold the key to the club’s hopes of avoiding relegation.

Reds return to the Checkatrade.com Stadium today for the visit of Preston on the back of three fruitless away games at Rochdale, Fleetwood and Chesterfield.

Dickson acknowledges Crawley must improve their woeful record on the road – they have won just once all season – if they are to stand any chance of staying up.

But the former Southampton defender insists that it is their home form which will ultimately decide their fate come May 3.

Dickson has not featured in a home game since before Christmas after missing the draws with Colchester and MK Dons as he eased his way back following hernia surgery.

The 28-year-old was in the stands for the pulsating 2-2 draw with MK Dons three weeks ago when Reds were roared on by a vociferous home crowd.

And the left-back has urged the fans to turn up the volume again today as Crawley bid for a first win since overcoming Walsall 1-0 more than three months ago.

Dickson said: “I was sat in the stand watching the game and I couldn’t believe the atmosphere.

“I’ve not experienced it like that since I’ve been here and it is just a pity that we’ve had three tough away games after that which has killed the mood a bit. Josh tells me it used to be like that all the time back in the day and it was pleasantly surprising.

“It is not the biggest of grounds so once the fans get going they can really make a noise.

“Fingers crossed the fans will get behind us right from start against Preston and in all the remaining home games as we need them desperately to be our 12th man.

“Home form is a big thing. That is where we are going to pick up the majority of our points as it is very rare that a team has a better away record than at home.

“We need to pick up results at home and make the Checkatrade a hard place for teams to come and the fans can play a big part in that.”

Crawley play ten of their remaining 19 games at home, including three of their next four, and apart from today’s visitors and Bristol City the rest are all against sides outside the current top eight.

Reds probably need to win nine more games this season to stay up which, barring a dramatic improvement in their fortunes on the road, means maximum points are virtually a must when the likes of Barnsley, Leyton Orient, Gillingham, Oldham, Notts County and Coventry come to West Sussex.

Preston could also be vulnerable today having hit a sticky patch recently – no wins in six games – and victory would give Crawley a massive boost ahead of their trip to fellow strugglers Yeovil next weekend.

Dickson added: “You usually need 50 or 51 points to stay up but at the moment we are just trying to win a game.

“I haven’t even looked at the table for while as it doesn’t matter. We need to win a game as if we don’t the table isn’t going to change.

“It is hard at the moment but we have no choice but to stay positive. We can’t hide away from the fact we are at the bottom but we need to keep our heads up.

“We have got ourselves in this situation and we are the only ones able to get us out of it. It won’t happen magically overnight but if we stick together we can turn things around.”