McNerney returns for Crawley in friendly

Reds lost 3-2 this afternoon against a Portsmouth XI at their training ground.

After joining the club from Woking in the summer, defender McNerney suffered a knee injury in August and only made two comeback appearances in October before suffering a relapse.

Yates wants to see the whole squad play their part during a busy run-in to the end of the season.

He said: “The game was mainly arranged to get Joe minutes under his belt and he came through fine. It was a good exercise with the players not involved or on the bench playing.

“We’ve got a busy end to the season, including two games over Easter, and we will need everyone to be fit and raring to go. Hopefully we will see Joe again

before the end of the season – this was another step forward in his recovery process.”

Following surgery to his knee, McNerney has been on the comeback trail in recent weeks, regularly taking part in the matchday warm-up as well as working hard in the gym and on the training ground.

Roarie Deacon put Reds in front when his shot crept in after 34 minutes but a strong Pompey team replied through Kal Naismith, Michael Smith and Adam May

before Lee Barnard pulled one back in the second half.

Crawley: Preston, Trialist, McNerney, Yorwerth, Walton (trialist 67), Bawling, Young, Tomlin, Fenelon (trialist 67), Deacon, Barnard

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