Crawley: Lee Barnard and Roarie Deacon join League Two club

Lee Barnard (left) and Roarie Deacon have been with Crawley during pre-season

League Two side Crawley Town have signed strikers Lee Barnard and Roarie Deacon on one-year deals.

Barnard, 31, and Deacon, 23, have spent most of pre-season with the Reds after leaving Southend and Stevenage respectively earlier this summer.

"They have been on our radar since day one and fair play to the club for allowing us to bring them in," Crawley boss Mark Yates told BBC Surrey.

"Credit to Lee and Roarie. They have stuck at it and kept coming in."

Former Tottenham trainee Barnard scored one goal in 11 appearances for the Shrimpers last season and also had a spell on loan at Stevenage, while Deacon featured 30 times for Boro in 2014-15, scoring once.

"We didn't think we were going to be able to do anything for both of them, but they have persevered," Yates added,

"I was desperate to sign them but my hands were a little bit tied. We thought we needed to do it and bring some players in to bulk the squad up."

The duo become Crawley's sixth and seventh signings of the summer transfer window.

Yates is still looking for a goalkeeper and two full-backs, and he was impressed with left-back Brian Van De Bogaert in their 1-0 friendly win over Reading on Monday.

"Brian drove for five hours over from Belgium," he said. "That goes down as a massive credit to him.

"I have heard about him but it is the first time I have seen him and I liked him and his attitude."

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