Francis Vines is hoping to solve his goalkeeping crisis in the next 24 hours by signing Fulham's Northern Ireland under-19 international William McFrederick.

Vines' former assistant Vic Bettinelli, who is now goalkeeping coach at Fulham, has offered McFrederick to the Reds on a temporary basis while regular No. 1 Andy Little serves a three game suspension.

Little picked up his second red card in four days against Grantham on Tuesday after also being sent off at Weymouth last Saturday.

It means he will miss the visit of Moor Green next Saturday followed by the home game against Grantham and the trip to Worcester.

"Our options are limited because we already have Gavin Holligan and Jonny Dixon on loan from Wycombe which means we cannot bring in another player on loan," explained Vines.

"As a result we have been forced to look around for non-contract players such as academy players or goalkeeping coaches at professional clubs or those without contracts at non-league clubs.

"I have spoken to Vic and he has recommended one of their third year academy keepers but I also have a couple of other irons in the fire. It will all be sorted out before the weekend."

Vines is likely to field a weakened side for the trip to Conference outfit Dagenham and Redbridge in the third round of the FA Trophy tomorrow.

The Reds played three games in six days from the beginning of 2004 and after playing with ten men in the previous two the Crawley boss believes it has taken its toll.

"There won't be too many changes because the FA Trophy is an important competition for us but the league has to be our priority. I will assess who might need a rest on the day of the game," said Vines.

Nigel Brake, Mo Harkin, Karl Ready and Joff Vansittart will all definitely miss out through injury while new signing Joe Vines is cup-tied.