Defender Adam Thompson returning to full fitness is a massive boost for Leyton Orient as he brings more experience and competition to the squad.

The O’s will play host to Crawley Town on Saturday as they look to continue chasing down the front-runners in League Two.

Manager Kenny Jackett now has more options in defence at his disposal with Thompson, Omar Beckles, Dan Happe, Shadrach Ogie and Alex Mitchell all available for selection.

Assistant manager Joe Gallen said: “We’re very pleased to have Adam back because like I said we have some young players playing regular football, some players that are probably in their first season as well, and he brings experience.

“I’m not saying that we need a thoroughly experienced team or an inexperienced team, we need a balance, and getting Adam back to fitness and back playing football again is a big plus for us.

“What he does bring is a lot of experience, a lot of talking, some maturity and a level headed mind when things aren’t going your way.

“It’s very big for us to have him back and now he’s fighting for his place in the starting 11.”

Gallen also provided an injury update on Paul Smyth and Callum Reilly who will remain side lined for the time being.

They'll be hoping midfielder Craig Clay is fully fit as he has been an influential figure in recent weeks for the O's.

“Callum Reilly is quite a way off really, it’s a re-occurrence of conductor strain, a groin injury and it will be well into January before we see Callum.

“Paul is a disappointment for us so far this season, very frustrating, and what we need to do with Paul is he’s picked up a very slight hamstring injury but it’s his third one so we need to give him some time to not only recover from that but get him back to fitness.

“We need to build up his fitness and strength. He needs to do extra work in the gym and at home. Fingers crossed we’ll see him before the end of the month.”

Competition amongst the squad remains fierce as they head into the busy festive period.