Steven Pressley admits Crawley keen on signing Farid El Alagui

Steven Pressley last night admitted Crawley Town have expressed an interest in signing top scorer Farid El Alagui – but insisted he believes the Moroccan will remain at Falkirk for the rest of the season.

The Bairns manager was delighted to see his team’s Scottish Cup clash with East Fife get the green light yesterday after a safety inspection following storm damage at the Falkirk Stadium.

El Alagui is certain to be a key figure in his team’s bid to replicate their giant-killing march to this month’s League Cup semi-final against Celtic, and in their hopes of maintaining a title challenge in the First Division.

Pressley said: “I know there is definitely going to be interest in Farid during January. But I’ve a genuine belief that he’ll be with us beyond January, I do. Crawley Town are interested but Farid believes he still has work to do here.”

This afternoon’s tie against East Fife was in major doubt when it was discovered that ten panels on the main stand roof had worked loose in this week’s gales and were in danger of blowing off.

Pressley added: “I’m really pleased the game is on. We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve not had any postponements this winter, which allows you to have a continuity and not have a backlog of fixtures.”