Crawley boss Richie Barker has assured Sergio Torres and Connor Essam they still have big roles to play at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Essam has yet to feature at all for Reds this season while Torres has been on the pitch for just six minutes in total from his three substitute appearances.

Both are likely to be on the bench again at Colchester United today but Barker insists the small size of Crawley’s squad combined with the demands of League One football means their chance will come.

Barker said: “I understand it can be frustrating for players when they are not in the team but they just need to be patient. We work hard on injury prevention and have been lucky so far but we are not going to get away with it forever.

“We’ve got a small squad compared to every other team in this division so it would only take two or three players to pick up knocks and they will be in. That is going to happen at some point and then it is up to them to take the opportunity.”

Reds were unable to fill their bench last week after Luke Rooney was ruled out with a virus but the on-loan Swindon winger has recovered and will be back among the substitutes today.

The suspended Gary Alexander is the only player not available for Crawley but Colchester boss Joe Dunne has a host of players ruled out. Winger Gavin Massey aggravated a hamstring injury in the 2-2 draw with Bradford last weekend while on-loan Chelsea defender Daniel Pappoe starts a three-game ban after being sent off against the Bantams.

Former Crawley loanee Sanchez Watt and Josh Thompson are both still sidelined by injury while striker Freddie Sears is only likely to be fit enough for the bench due to a groin problem.