Lowestoft Town defender Greg Crane looks set to return from a hamstring injury.

Lowestoft Town skipper Greg Crane should be back as the Blues look to kick-start their season at Hendon this afternoon, kick-off 3pm.

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The defender sat out the Trawlerboys’ Alan Boon Cup semi-final defeat at Bury on Tuesday night with a hamstring strain but joint boss Ady Gallagher revealed this was only as a precaution.

Crane’s return should give a boost to a Lowestoft side that has now gone three games without a win although new signing Nathan Stone is likely to start from the bench once again as he endeavours to achieve the fitness levels of his new Lowestoft team-mates following his move from Leiston.

“Nathan came on last weekend and put in a good shift for the last half-hour,” said Gallagher. “He was a bit unlucky not to get the goal – he obviously needs to adapt to our style of play and he needs to bring his fitness up because he is finding training hard at the minute.

“He will be a good signing in time – he knows where the net is and he gives us something different.

“Craney had a bit of a tight hamstring and it wasn’t worth taking the chance with him. He could have played but we decided not to.”

The management team must decide whether to stick with the 4-5-1 formation employed in recent games or revert to 4-4-2 as they look to keep up with pacesetters Billericay Town at the top of the Ryman League Premier.

Gallagher maintains the belief his side can make 4-5-1 work, arguing Lowestoft have continued to create chances despite also being held by Tooting & Mitcham last weekend.

“I don’t think it was wrong to change the formation,” he said. “We’ve looked at a couple of other things in the last two games. On Saturday we created enough chances to win two games.

“There’s not anything particularly wrong with the formation. We just aren’t getting the breaks at this moment in time – that’s temporary.

“We’ve got a lot of quality in our side with a lot of spirit and we believe we can get to where we want to be with this group of players.”