Matt Harrold has been identified as the man to get Crawley Town back on the goal trail.

Reds have made an encouraging start to the season despite finding the net just five times in six games.

Their lack of cutting edge has been partially masked by an excellent defensive record which has seen them concede only three goals in League Two ahead of today’s trip to Mansfield Town.

Boss Mark Yates has found it difficult to fill the void left by Izale McLeod who scored 21 goals last season before forcing through a move to Notts County three weeks ago.

Harrold, who spent the majority of last season on the bench due to the form of McLeod, has scored just once in 29 games for Reds since joining from Bristol Rovers last summer.

But assistant manager Jimmy Dack is confident Harrold can rediscover the kind of goalscoring touch he showed during his time at Rovers and before that at Wycombe if Reds supply him with the right kind of ammunition.

Dack said: “We need to score more goals, we know that. Defensively we look solid but offensively we could do better so that is what we have been working on over the last two weeks.

“Matty has done really well for us up top on his own so far. His link-up play has been brilliant and he occupies the back four but we would like him to score more goals.

“We know he’s got it in him as he’s scored goals at his previous clubs so Mark and I have been studying videos of the goals he has scored over the last three or four years.

“We have also watched his last five games for us which show he is making the runs but we are not finding him. I don’t think the balls we are putting in the box have helped him so we have been working on that all this week.

“It is important we get the best out of all our players, not just Matty. It is easy to chop and change and go and get new players but we have a honest bunch of lads who are working hard for each other.

“Bringing in new players is the lazy way out in my opinion. We have got to give players already at the club the respect they deserve by working hard to get the best out of them.”

Reds faced three of the current top five plus big spenders AFC Wimbledon and Cambridge United in their opening five games – a schedule Yates described as the toughest of any team in the Football League.

They are due to take on the three teams currently propping up the table – Yeovil, Notts County and Newport County – in their next five matches but Dack has warned against any complacency.

He added: “I have been in this league few years now and I’ve never had an easy game.

“Anyone who thinks our first five games have been the hardest have got another thing coming as the next five are going to be even harder.

“You have to have the mentality to work hard for every single point as no-one is going to give you anything in this league.Mansfield have had a good start so it is going to be another very tough game.”

Reds welcome back Liam Donnelly after he missed the goalless draw against Wycombe in the last match due to suspension but Gavin Tomlin and Lanre Oyebanjo remain injured and Joe McNerney is a doubt with a sore knee.

Mansfield – who have drawn all three of their home games this season 1-1 – are likely to include two players who were at Crawley last year in the form of veteran goalkeeper Brian Jensen and midfielder Mitch Rose.