BOSS Steve Evans believes the return of Lewis Killeen can help Crawley overcome a tricky test in the FA Cup today.

Killeen returns to the squad for the fourth qualifying round tie at home to Havant and Waterlooville after missing eight games with an ankle injury.

The former Halifax wideman scored two goals in eight games and was influential in Reds’ rise to the top of the Blue Square premier before suffering ligament damage in the 2-1 win over Mansfield on September 13.

Although Reds only surrendered top spot last Saturday, Evans admits Crawley have missed Killeen’s creative spark.

He said: “We’ve missed Lewis. He’s a brilliant footballer and is a yard ahead of most players in his head.

“He’s got great flair and vision and gets us a goal and he is a brave player.

“By that I don’t mean someone who is prepared to take a boot in the face but a player who is brave enough to play a pass when you’re 3-0 down and do the things you do when you’re 1-0 up – not a lot of players are like that.”

The lack of support offered to target man Steve Fletcher when he came off the bench in last Saturday’s 1-0 league defeat at Histon was a concern to Evans.

“Whenever we have brought Steve on he has been awesome but you have to have players working off him,” said Evans.

“In the 4-3-3 system we play Lewis does well because he knows naturally when to join in alongside the central striker and when to give us width.

“Last Saturday at Histon our instructions to Jon-Paul Pittman and Jamie Cook were to get close to Steve but they didn’t do that.

Steve doesn’t just win headers, he knocks them into the spaces where a second striker should be.”

Reds will bank £12,500 if they can reach the first round but Evans already knows that none of that money will be available for squad strengthening, even though the club have not budgeted for cup income.

“We’re not kidding ourselves, we would welcome the money but none of it will come to me,” he said.

“All we are doing is concentrating on winning the game – I’m more looking forward to the possibility of being in Sunday’s draw and who we might get.

“But let’s not be disrespectful to Havant. I believe we can get through if we are at our best but we will need to be. They are a decent side with a lot of experience.”

Reds are also anxious to avoid a replay on Monday with another Blue Square premier clash at Salisbury scheduled for next Thursday.

Fletcher suffered a knock in training on Thursday but should be fit.