A look ahead to Monday's action at the Wham Stadium
Reds head to the Wham Stadium on Easter Monday to take on Accrington Stanley in our penultimate away game of the season in Sky Bet EFL2.
The form guide suggests it will be one of the toughest games of the campaign. Stanley have mounted an unexpected late surge for the play-offs on the back of a 14-match unbeaten run. Their last defeat was a 2-0 reverse at Portsmouth back in February and they haven’t lost in front of their own supporters since December 17 when they went down 1-0 to Plymouth Argyle.
The Opposition:
Stanley were in the bottom half of the table for much of the first part of the season, a reaction perhaps to last season’s disappointing finale when they were beaten by AFC Wimbledon in the play-off semi-finals having drawn their final game of the campaign against Stevenage when a win would have guaranteed automatic promotion.
But since the turn of the year their consistency has been impressive and they have steadily climbed the table.
On Good Friday they drew 0-0 at Blackpool, who missed a penalty. They are 12th in the table and although they are four points off the last play-off place games are running out and they would probably need at least ten points from their remaining fixtures to squeeze into the top seven. It can be done and Stanley will regard Monday’s encounter as a must-win.
Read what Stanley boss John Coleman has to say about the game here.
Previous meetings
Stanley was the setting for one of the greatest days in Crawley’s history five years ago next month when Scott Neilson’s second-half goal sealed a 1-0 win for the visitors and promotion to League One. Earlier in the season the sides had drawn 1-1 at the Checkatrade Stadium.
Last season Stanley did the double over us, winning 3-0 at Crawley and 4-1 at home. Reds led 1-0 at the break through Gwion Edwards but three players, including Simon Walton and Stanley’s substitute goalkeeper, were sent off after a second-half melee. Stanley scored four times to complete a somewhat flattering scoreline.
They dominated this season’s meeting too, but Reds defended doggedly for a 0-0 draw.
One to watch
Shay McCartan is Stanley’s free kick specialist and has 10 goals this season, including five in his last seven matches.
The Ticket Details:
Monday’s match is pay on the day for Crawley fans. Details can be found here.
Follow it live:
Reds Player HD subscribers can listen to full live commentary of the game with the Robins with John Barnett from 2.55pm.
Fans can sign up here to the subscription service.
Live minute-by-minute updates will be available on our official Twitter feed – with half time and full time updates on our Facebook page.
Instagram and Snapchat users can go behind the scenes throughout the afternoon – fans should add ‘@crawley_town_fc’ and ‘@crawleytownfc’ respectively.
After the game, a full match report and all the reaction will be available on our website, YouTube and Reds Player HD.