SCENE SETTER
Reds take on Cheltenham in a meeting of the teams in 12th and eighth in Sky Bet League 2 on Saturday, kick off 3pm.
THE FORM GUIDE
Reds have only lost once in league and cup since the opening day of the season and beat Premier League Norwich City 1-0 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. Cheltenham extended their unbeaten league run to four games against West Country rivals Swindon last Saturday. The Robins twice came from behind to draw 2-2 thanks to goals from Chris Hussey and Luke Varney.
PAST MEETINGS
We are meeting Cheltenham for the tenth time on Saturday. Our record currently stands at three wins, a draw and five defeats from nine matches in all competitions, although two of those wins came last season.
The sides met regularly in our Southern League days but when we made the promised land of the Football League our first match against the Robins was one of just eight defeats in our debut league season as we were beaten 3-1 early on in the campaign.
The return leg was a significant match for both sides as it was a clash between two of the top three in League Two. On a chilly night in February, the Broadfield Stadium witnessed a thrilling game between two promotion contenders on a bone-hard pitch which Reds won 4-2 thanks to two goals from Tyrone Barnett and Sanchez Watt.
The following August, the two sides played out a cracking tie in the first round of the League Cup. A brace from Nicky Adams and a Gary Alexander strike saw the Reds race into a 3-1 lead with half an hour to go, but the hosts won 4-3.
The next three games resulted in two wins for Cheltenham and a goalless draw in RH11. Billy Waters and Jack Munns’ goals were enough for the Robins despite Kaby Djalo’s consolation late on in 2016, before the 0-0 stalemate preceded a 1-0 win for Cheltenham thanks to Mo Eisa’s sole goal the following season
There was an incredible eight-goal thriller in March 2017 which the visitors won 5-3 despite goals from Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Panutche Camara and Lewis Young. Last season we won 1-0 on the opening day at Cheltenham thanks to Ollie Palmer and the No.9 was on target again when we repeated that scoreline in the first game of 2019.
TEAM NEWS
Josh Dacres-Cogley has returned to Birmingham for treatment on the ankle injury he sustained at Orient on Saturday. Mason Bloomfield (ankle) and Joe McNerney (back) are both ruled out.
VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITION
Assistant Manager Russell Milton: "Crawley are a very exciting team. "They've started well and had a great result against Norwich.
"They'll have to try and put that to the back of their minds now and concentrate on us as their manager alluded to. They will cause us problems. They've got a lot of energy and we will have to combat their threats and impose ourselves.
"They won at Leyton Orient last week as well which is a good win. As we know it's a tough place to go. We'll prepare as we can and see what we can do. It was an entertaining game last year - we did play well without hurting them too much."
THE MATCH OFFICIALS
It will be the eighth time that Lancashire official Ben Toner has refereed a Reds game – and we have lost five of the previous seven. The others were a 2-2 draw at Mansfield Town on the final game of last season and our 1-0 victory at Yeovil last April, his last Crawley match.
In 2016-17 he took charge of games against Portsmouth (0-3) and Bristol Rovers (2-4) and the 2-1 home defeat to Plymouth. His first Crawley appointment was a 1-0 home loss to Yeovil in September 2015.
This season he has taken charge of four games and shown 13 yellow and one red card.
Conor Farrell and Paul Kelly will assist him on Saturday. Greg Read is the fourth official.
TICKETS
Tickets are on sale for all areas of the stadium. More information here
HOW THEY BET*
Crawley win: 6/5
Draw: 23/10
Norwich win: 21/10
*Odds correct with EFL partners Sky Bet at time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.
COVERAGE
The game will be available for UK subscribers of iFollow from 2.55pm with live commentary from BBC Sussex & Surrey Sport's Gary Smith and Tony Vessey.
You must be a subscriber to listen (UK) to this service. You can subscribe here.
There will also be coverage across our social media channels throughout the game. @crawleytown on Twitter, Crawley Town FC on Facebook and officialcrawleytownfc on Instagram followed by post-match report and reaction.
COME ON YOU REDS!
