Dino Maamria brings his Stevenage side to the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday as Crawley look to make it two wins from two at the start of the Sky Bet League Two season.
Stevenage began proceedings last weekend with a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Tranmere Rovers, who pegged the Hertfordshire side back from two goals down at the Lamex Stadium. James Ball and Joel Byrom got their names on the score sheet for Stevenage, with James Norwood bagging a brace for Rovers.
Pre Season Tests
Stevenage faced a variety of opposition in pre-season, with wins over non-league sides St Neots Town and St Albans City, before losing to Premier League opposition in Crystal Palace and Watford.
They also added wins against Portsmouth and Coventry City to complete a fairly successful pre-season campaign.
Last Meeting
Crawley were the victors the last time the two sides met at the Broadfield Stadium, on December 30th 2017. Enzio Boldewijn gave the Reds the lead in the first half, but Josh Payne received a red card just two minutes later meaning Crawley would finish the game with ten man. That didn’t matter, though, as a superb defensive performance meant the game finished 1-0 to Harry Kewell’s men.
The Manager
Tunisian Dino Maamria has been at the Stevenage helm since March when he took over from Darren Sarll. The seasoned striker had a lengthy career that included three separate spells at Stevenage, which is where he called time as a player in 2012.
His management career started at Northwich Victoria in 2007/08 while playing for the Cheshire side, before taking over Southport in 2015 after his playing career had ended. He spent last season at Nuneaton Town before taking over at Stevenage vacancy, whom he has managed in ten competitive fixtures.
One To Watch
Joel Byrom is in his second spell at Stevenage, having spent three years with the club between 2009-2012. The midfielder scored in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Tranmere Rovers on his second debut after signing from Mansfield Town in the summer.
He was previously signed by Maamria at Northwich Victoria and could well be an influential player in Stevenage’s bid for glory this season.
Byrom is pictured playing for his previous club Mansfield.
Match Coverage
The match will be covered across Crawley Town’s official social media feeds on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Overseas users of iFollow can stream the game so long as they have the subscription, while UK users will be able to listen to live match commentary.
