John Hollins is preparing for a long, hard winter after admitting there are no funds to bolster Crawley's threadbare squad.

It looked brighter for Reds when the club's short-term financial future was guaranteed last Wednesday following a decision by creditors to accept half of the £900,000 debt owed to them.

The Majeed brothers have 60 days to pay up but even if they manage to clear the club's debts in that time they have warned Hollins not to expect any money for team strengthening.

A crowd of just 778 turned out for Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Northwich Victoria, the lowest at Broadfield Stadium since Crawley were promoted to the Conference two years ago and well below the level needed for the club to break even.

A large section of supporters have vowed never to return while the Majeeds are still in charge of the club and Hollins admits the only way to change their minds is with results.

Hollins said: "Some of the teams we are competing against in this league have a budget of £20,000 a week and can bring in players at any time they want.

"We are down to the bare bones. We only have 14 players to choose from so we can't rotate our players like other teams and maybe that is why we were so lethargic on Saturday.

"We have had to cut back as much as we can and all we can do is hope that the crowds get bigger.

"It is a relief to be out of administration but we have still got to stick to a budget. I just can't go and bring in another couple of players because there isn't the money to do that.

"It does make things hard. I wouldn't mind a few quid to spend but I knew what I was taking on when I came here and have just got to get on with it. I will have to use every bit of experience I have got to get performances out of the players here.

"Obviously it would help if the crowds were bigger but I cannot force the fans to come back. The only way we can attract them back is by winning and playing attractive football."

Reds began the season with three wins on the bounce and wiped out the ten-point deficit given to them for going into administration with a hard-fought draw at Exeter last Monday.

Another win on Saturday against a Northwich team which had lost four in a row would have lifted them off the foot of the table and means they had collected more points than at the same stage last season.

It was not to be, though, as they paid the price for two horrendous defensive blunders in the second half.

Danny Brown was guilty for the first as he made a hash of a routine clearance which allowed Danny Mayman to fire home a low drive from the edge of the area just three minutes after the restart.

That was bad but Dave Woozley's gaffe 18 minutes later was almost unforgivable. There seemed little danger when the ball bounced towards him but he missed it completely and a grateful Paul Brayson took full advantage by rounding goalkeeper Ben Hamer to slot into an empty net.

Hollins threw on new loan signing Dannie Bulman for his debut as Reds chased an equaliser but the closest they came was when fellow substitute Scott Rendell volleyed just wide.

Hollins said: "The two goals came from our mistakes again just as it was against Stafford so we have got to start cutting them out.

"It was very disappointing because this was supposed to be the start of us getting points back on other teams but we looked lethargic throughout and were never really up for it like we were against Exeter.

"Our overall performance was poor, the worst we have played this season but there are 40 games left so we have just got to pick ourselves and get on with it.

"Maybe when we were in administration the players realised that their livelihoods were on the line and it made them get results but that did not work for us against Northwich."