Crawley Town’s Josh Simpson and Darren Ward return from injury

They should both be available for selection for Saturday’s crunch relegation battle at home to Notts County.

Simpson has been dogged with injury this season and has not played a match since Crawley’s First Round exit from the FA Cup 1-0 at the hands of Yeovil on November 8.

Simpson completed his first training session on Thursday and could be named on the bench depending on if there is any reaction to his hamstring.

Interim manager Dean Saunders said: “He could well be involved if he gets through Friday’s training session.

Ward was Saunders’ first signing soon after arriving at the club in January and played constantly at centre back until suffering a heel injury against Gillingham which caused him to miss the last four matches.

Crawley will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday night’s disastrous 5-0 at Walsall which plunged them back into the relegation zone at third from bottom.

Saunders said: “All credit to Walsall, the strikes they hit won’t be happening again this season. We’ve now got to move on and concentrate on these three games.

“When I took over if you’d said to me we would be down to the last three games needing two wins to stay up I would have taken it.

“The players have done brilliantly to get in this position. So they must not think negatively about losing a game, cause you are never going to win every game.

“Our form up until a week ago was third in the league. We’ve lost three centre backs in three months.

“I thought Darren Ward was going to be out for the rest of the season so it’s great to have him back. He’s had a rest, he’s fit - you don’t lose your fitness in two weeks and he looks after himself - he’s a fitness fanatic, he’s professional and wants to win.

“We’re on 47 points - 53 points should be enough, two wins.

“It makes it easier for us if we can win this game. It will become clearer what we are going to have to do.”