All you need to know ahead of the Reds' trip to Bury this Saturday.
SCENE SETTER
Gabriele Cioffi's Crawley finally have an away win on the record after a 1-0 win at Swindon Town last weekend, with Filipe Morais' bobbling strike proving the difference at the County Ground. Bury have won six of their last eight games and are unbeaten at home since September, and they have the best home record in the division. They sit third in the Sky Bet League Two table on 53 points, six points behind league leaders Lincoln with whom they drew 3-3 last time out. Crawley are 16th on 36 points.
FORM GUIDE
Crawley start to 2019 has been indifferent, with three wins and three defeats from their six games. The away win at Swindon last weekend was their first since September 8th, which was forshadowed after impressive performances on the road of late. Bury are unbeaten in eight games in all competitions and have been amongst the goals at both ends of the pitch in recent weeks. There have been 29 goals in their last five matches, and have scored 4, 5, and 3 goals respectively in their last three home matches at Gigg Lane.
THE HISTORY
Crawley have a 100% record against Bury over only four matches that the sides have faced each other in. The first of these four came in the FA Cup in 2011, on our way to the Fifth Round for the second consecutive season. Michael Doughty and Tyrone Barnett were on the scoresheet that day as the Reds ran out 2-0 winners.
The following season - our first in League One - we ran out 3-2 winners in a thrilling contest at the Broadfield Stadium. Current Bury midfielder Nicky Adams was on the scoresheet twice for the Reds, as him and Hope Akpan put the Reds 2-0 up either side of the break. The Shakers scored twice in quick succession through Andy Bishop and Tom Hopper to level the scores before Adams popped up with a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time to win it dramatically for the Reds.
In a unique quirk the results, our last trip to Gigg Lane and our last home match against the Shakers finished with the same results as the previous two.
It was a Jamie Proctor that was on target twice in Greater Manchester, while there was another dramatic contest in West Sussex at the end of August.
Jimmy Smith was on target just four minutes into one of his only appearances this season to put the Reds ahead. It was like that until after half time, when Chris Dagnall and Danny Mayor turned the game on its head as they led 2-1 with ten minutes to go. A goal credited to Panutche Camara levelled the scores on 81 minutes, before Ollie Palmer scored potentially his best in a Crawley shirt as won the game in dramatic style on the verge of 90 minutes. Full time, 3-2.
TEAM NEWS
Crawley will have Deadline Day signing Matty Willock available for the first time since joining on loan from Manchester United. Josh Payne is now available after serving his two match suspension. Other than long term absentee Jimmy Smith, Gabriele Cioffi has a full squad to pick from.
Bury brought in Jordan Rossiter from Rangers on the final day of the transfer window, adding to the loan signing of Scott Wharton in January.
THE MATCH OFFICIALS
Cambridgeshire official Neil Hair will be the man in the middle for Saturday's trip.
It will be Mr Hair's third appointment involving Crawley this season, having previously officiated our 3-1 home win over Yeovil Town in September and our 2-1 defeat at Cambridge United on Boxing Day.
This is his first season in the Football League having been promoted from the National League group of referees in the summer.
He will be assisted by Ms Helen Byrne and Mr Mark Cunliffe, with the fourth official named as David Benton.
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, with summariser Ken Blackmore.
You must be a subscriber to listen (UK) to this service. You can subscribe here. Overseas users can of course watch the action live.
There will also be coverage across our social media channels throughout the afternoon. @crawleytown on Twitter, Crawley Town FC on Facebook and crawley_town_fc on Instagram.
