You saw a moon from Sussex Downs,
A Sussex moon, untravelled still,
I saw a moon that was the town’s,
The largest lamp on Campden Hill.
G K Chesterton
We welcome an in-form Crawley Town side currently sitting pretty in the play-off zone in League 2, although interestingly enough they’ve conceded 11 goals in their 10 games - as have we. Their home form has been impressive, putting 4 past Tranmere Rovers and Morecambe, yet they could only draw 1-1 at home to basket case Southend United. Crawley’s away form gives us some hope, as they’ve only won one game (at Oldham Athletic), but recent performances suggest that “gelling” is well under way - and part of that success will no doubt be down to Assistant Head Coach Lee Bradbury, who will be remembered for his brief career as a Saddler back in 2004. So, current form:-
October 17th Morecambe (H) Won 4-0
October 20th Exeter City (A) Lost 2-1
October 24th Salford City (A) Drew 1-1
October 27th Tranmere Rovers (H) Won 4-0
October 31st Cambridge United (H) Won 2-1
It’s worth pointing out that there is another managerial connection between the two clubs in the shape of Sean O’Driscoll. He set some kind of record, being appointed manager at Crawley in May 2012 but leaving in July 2012 to go to Nottingham Forest. He didn’t manage Crawley for a single competitive game (which might have been a good thing if you recall his time with us).
After a much-improved performance at Mansfield Town, where (according to reports) we should have been out of sight after 20 minutes, our lack of fire-power was again exposed in a pretty tame 1-1 draw. Come back “Flash”, all is forgiven… Darrell Clarke chose not to throw his young loan players in at the deep end, but in the current format of 2 games a week every week surely a fresh approach (with fresh legs) couldn’t be less effective than we are at present? In addition to Gordon’s absence, it’s highly likely that Danny Guthrie won’t be available, and both Clarke and defender Cockerill-Mollett are also likely absentees. As always we have to wait and see what Tinkerman comes up with.
Prediction? It’s about time we started to put the round thing into the netty thing, so how about a 3-1 home win (we have to concede one, it’s a pre-requisite) - goals from Lavery, Holden and Scarr.
UTS
