Lewis Killeen insists the worst injury crisis of the Steve Evans era is bringing the Crawley squad closer together.

Boss Evans has always made creating a good team spirit a priority but that has been sorely tested in the last few weeks.

Reds went into Tuesday’s game against Salisbury with just one striker in the squad and Charlie Ademeno was only fit enough to start on the bench.

He was pressed into action after 20 minutes when Chris Giles, a defender playing up front, joined Sam Rents (ankle), Calum Willock (knee) and Danny Forrest (hamstring) in the treatment room.

With Barry Cogan suspended Reds were down to their last 13 fit professionals, including two goalkeepers.

In the circumstances the 2-0 win over Salisbury, which Killeen crowned with his first goal since April, will go down as one of their most important of the season.

Killeen said: “It was a great win and one that we deserved and it showed that the spirit we have is good.

“When you are down to the bare bones like we were you have to dig in and work even harder and, as a squad, that is the mentality that we have. We have stuck together and hopefully the result on Tuesday is the start of a good run for us.”

Killeen, who joined the club at the start of last season, has failed to nail a regular place in Reds’ midfield this season.

He played in five of the first seven games, missed the next five, came back for five and then returned for the first time since the 1-0 defeat at Kidderminster last month on Tuesday.

He said: “It has been tough but hopefully I have done enough to get a run in the side now.

“I have been inconsistent this season but hopefully I can knuckle down now.

“The gaffer freshened up the side earlier in the season and I couldn’t get back in but with him if you take your chance and put in a positive performance you stay in there and hopefully that will be the case.

“We have a reserve team this season which is great for the club because it keeps you ticking over but there’s nothing like matches at Conference level to get your sharpness.”

There is one statistic which supports the 27-year-old’s inclusion every week.

Reds have won six and drawn the other of the seven games in which he has scored and there cannot have been many better than the curling left-foot effort which secured only their second win in ten games against Salisbury.

“I was really pleased with it,” said Killeen. “I was pretty tired by then but the gap opened up and I just went for it. I thought we played really well in the second half. Playing against ten men doesn’t always make a difference but we got the early goal and took the initiative.”

Reds do not expect to have any of their injured players available at Gateshead tomorrow while Cogan is suspended.

Reds were thumped 4-1 when they met in August and Killeen admits they are keen to avenge their biggest defeat of the season so far.

“They are a decent side but we let them play too much at our place,” said Killeen. “Revenge is not your main focus as a player before a game but we have our pride and no one likes getting turned over so it’s in the back of our mind to go up there and make up for what happened earlier in season.”

Reds will prepare with a session at Sunderland’s training ground today and a rare overnight stay.

Killeen added: “We’ll be seeing how the other half live! But if we prepare right we should be able to build on the Salisbury game and hopefully get a positive result.”

Crawley (from): Rayner, Wilson, Rusk, Quinn, Broadhurst, Hutchinson, Smith, Pinault, Malcolm, Ademeno, Killeen, Jordan, Lokando, Napper, Carter, Huggins.

Gateshead (from): Farman, Baxter, Swailes, Williams, Cave, Haworth, Phillips, Turnbull, Gate, Winn, Francis, Clare, One, Mackay, Provett, Pelonde.