Crawley’s players have been told to forget about the league table for another month.

Reds could climb back into the play-off places if they extend their unbeaten run to four matches with a win at Colchester United tomorrow.

But boss Richie Barker claims the table means little at this stage of the season and points to the fact that the likes of Sheffield United, Bristol City and Notts County are in the bottom four as proof.

Barker said: “You need to have played another three or four games until you can read a great deal into the table. At this stage you can have had a hard run of fixtures or been struggling with injuries which results in a misleading position.

“Sheffield United are getting used to having a new manager but I don’t think they will be down there for too long while Bristol City are finding their feet in this division following relegation.

“You only have to look at Colchester to show that it is too early to assess things. Their recent form might suggest they are struggling a bit but they have had two tough away games against Coventry and Bradford and before that played leaders Leyton Orient at home.”