Reds resume their rivalry with Leyton Orient on Saturday when the teams meet for the first time since March 2017.
It will be our tenth game with the O’s and Crawley have a good record against them with seven wins and just three defeats. There has yet to be a draw between the teams.
The O’s were heading towards the National League when we last met and Crawley won 3-0 thanks to goals in the first 32 minutes from James Collins, Joe McNerney and Enzio Boldewijn. Earlier in the season the hosts led 3-0 at the break but an own goal and Boldewijn strike made it 3-2. That was the second of two successive wins for Orient who had also triumphed in front of their own fans in February 2016 when two goals from Armand Gnanduillet either side of half-time sealed a 2-0 win over Mark Yates’ side on a freezing afternoon at Brisbane Road.
Reds had won six of the first seven meetings. Earlier in the 2015-16 season Roarie Deacon, Mitch Hancox and Simon Walton’s penalty earned us a 3-2 win with Jay Simpson netting twice for the O’s.
The last time the teams met in League One came in the 2014-15 campaign. Our 4-1 defeat at Orient on Boxing Day 2014 was also John Gregory’s final game in charge of the Reds. We gained revenge with a 1-0 win in March 2015 when Izale McLeod’s penalty (main picture) was the difference.
We first met Orient in the 2012-13 campaign. Reds won both games that season by 1-0 with Nicky Ajose the matchwinner at home and Billy Clarke on target at Brisbane Road.
The following season Gary Alexander, Andy Drury and Nicky Adams netted in a 3-2 win in E10 and at home on Good Friday 2014 we won 2-1 thanks to goals from Gwion Edwards and Drury.
