"Let us be set down at Queen’s Crawley without further divagation"
(Thackeray)
It will come as no surprise to our erudite members that poetic quotations mentioning Crawley are as rare as hens’ teeth, so the above extract from last month’s Carabao Cup game will have to suffice. Nothing has changed in the history of Crawley Town since then, so feel free to scroll back to Tuesday August 13th if you have the time and inclination.
The Red Devils (as Crawley Town like to be known) are currently hovering around the play-off zone in 8th place, on 16 points. Interestingly despite their lofty position they have conceded 13 goals in League 2, compared to our 9 (we will gloss over the fact that they’ve scored 16 compared to our 5). The development in their personnel has seen one of their goalscorers at The Bescot (Filipe Morais) depart on loan to Oldham Athletic. Crawley’s League 2 form:-
Aug 24 Leyton Orient (A) Won 2-3
Aug 31 Cheltenham Town (H) Won 1-0
Sep 7 Macclesfield Town (A) Drew 1-1
Sep 14 Mansfield Town (H) Won 1-0
Sep 17 Plymouth Argyle (H) Drew 2-2
Sep 21 Northampton Town (A) Drew 2-2
Their form has also extended to the EFL Cup, where a couple of nights ago they disposed of Sjoke City on penalties (5-3) after holding them to 1-1 in the 90 minutes. Even if The Clayheads fielded a weakened side, Crawley’s performance should not be under-estimated.
Darrell Clarke’s team selection for this game is likely to be dominated by the headache of injuries - Adebayo, Holden, Lavery and Guthrie have all been referred to the Physio’s, and it’s unclear how near Kory Roberts is to making what would be a welcome return to competitive football.
However, we come to this game on the back of two straight League 2 wins, and what appears to be a definite ability to keep a clean sheet. Long may this continue, but against a Crawley side that is almost the League 2 top scorer it may be a big ask. A point from this game would be quite an achievement, so perhaps a score of 1-1 is realistic(ish)?
With creepy having had a tough game against Stoke in midweek we should be the fresher of the 2 teams if that counts for anything. 3points would be great but would be reasonably happy to come away unbeaten 1-1 UTS
Would be happy with a point from this, they’ve got some good attacking players, actually one released from Blues is attracting interest so looks like that was a missed opportunity in the summer.
Hopefully our defence will do better this time. I don’t think we’ll keep a clean sheet, so we will have to score a goal. Maybe it will be a striker for a change? I’ll go for Flash. (A long shot, I know.) 1-1.
Not sure which way to go with this, on one hand they’ll be on a high from their cup run and full of confidence and on the other hand they could be tired and we should be the much fresher team
It’s all part of the master strategy. Picture the scene in the Crawley Town dressing room as their manager worriedly paces up and down: “are they going to play Adebayo or Lavery? - are they fit or not? Argh!!! I just can’t go on…”
I’d definitely take a draw tomorrow. They impressed me in the league cup. They didn’t play pretty football but they were direct and dangerous. Perfect for this level. Thankfully the last few games have took the pressure off a tad.
