Manager John Hollins is fed up with Crawley being labelled a struggling team.

Reds have taken 13 points from their first seven games, a total which would have put them seventh in the Conference under normal circumstances.

Their ten point administration penalty means they are instead third bottom going into tonight's trip to Dagenham and Redbridge.

The Daggers are in third place having lost just once this season, a 1-0 defeat against title favourites Oxford United, and Hollins says eyebrows should not be raised if Reds beat them.

Hollins said: "People are looking at us and saying 'Crawley are just a bottom of the league team' but, really, we are not.

"We really are seventh in the league and mentally that is how we are looking at it. We have 13 points and that would have put us up there with the teams people think are going to do well.

"People didn't expect us to beat York on Saturday because they are up the top and we were at the bottom but, when you look at it, they have only picked up one more point than us.

"They are a very good side and will be there or there abouts at the end of the season and we beat them."

Hollins insists Reds have not been lucky to collect as many points they have, despite three of their four victories - against Woking, Stevenage and York - coming after the opposition had a player sent off.

Hollins said: "Ten men can often cause a lot more problems than 11. Just look at Brighton on Saturday against Millwall.

"It can be very hard to break them down if they have the right spirit because they can put men behind the ball.

"We have worked very hard to get the points and will try to carry on doing that. On Saturday we produced a good all-round performance, it was not pretty Strugglers' tag is wrong says Crawley boss Hollins but we battled to get the win which is what we have to do."

Hollins admits his threadbare squad is being stretched to the limit with a second game in four days but is confident they can cope.

He added: "I only have 14 players to chose from, so we will have to go with the same players. To have another game so soon after the last is a really hard test for us.

"But they have come through other difficult tests so, hopefully, we can have the same type of performance as Saturday."

Striker Jake Edwards, who scored his first league goal in Saturday's 3-0 win over York, admits the players will need to dig deep to continue their promising start tonight.

He said: "The games are coming thick and fast now and there is not much time to rest in between which makes it hard when you have such a small squad like us.

"Dagenham will be a tough game. They are a very physical side so it is important we apply ourselves properly.

"We are feeling quite positive at the moment but it is important we don't get carried away. We've got rid of the ten point deficit and now we've got to focus on climbing up the table."