The Reds have the opportunity to make it seven points from a possible nine this Saturday, 3pm, when they take on Oldham Athletic at The People's Pension Stadium.
SCENE SETTER
Four points from two away games is a just reward for the Reds who have improved on the road of late, but attentions turn to home turf where we must improve on our last our last result here after a 1-0 loss to Port Vale. A 1-0 win at Swindon, coupled with a 1-1 draw at high flying Bury means Gabriele Cioffi's men have pulled themselves away from the bottom two. The Reds now sit 10 points ahead of the first relegation spot. Oldham are still without a manager, so Pete Wild will continue to take charge as interim. It is likely that Paul Scholes will be appointed some time in the next week, once the FA have clarified eligibility issues regarding his part ownership of Salford City.
FORM GUIDE
Crawley have picked up four points from their last two games and have recorded three wins, three defeats and draw so far in 2019. Our home form has been generally good this season, despite three defeats in our last five matches at The People's Pension Stadium. Oldham have lost three in a row in all competitions, but their last win was against Premier League side Fulham in the FA Cup 3rd Round. They've won two of their last three games on the road, which has included a 4-1 win and 6-0 defeat.
THE HISTORY
Saturday's meeting with Oldham will be our eighth since we joined the Football League, and our record stands at won two, drawn three, lost two.
The first encounter came back in 2012 in our first season in League One when we played out a 1-1 draw with the Latics at the Broadfield Stadium. Kyle McFadzean canceled out Jose Baxter’s strike in a game which also saw a red card apiece as Jean Yves M’Voto and Crawley’s Hope Akpan were both dismissed.
This season’s match at Boundary Park came in difficult circumstances for Crawley. With Harry Kewell’s departure confirmed, and Gabriele Cioffi yet to be appointed as Head Coach (although he watched from the stands), Filipe Morais and Jimmy Smith were in charge for the trip north.
Newly relegated Oldham took the lead early on through Gevaro Nepumoceno but the Reds put up a fight and found themselves level through the boot of Dannie Bulman. They could have been ahead before the break, but Ollie Palmer was denied from the penalty spot.
It looked like the managerless side would hold on for a good point, but on-loan striker Sam Surridge scored in the 89th minute to deny us in the cruelest of circumstances.
TEAM NEWS
Other than long term absentee Jimmy Smith, Gabriele Cioffi should have a full squad to choose from for the clash with Oldham. Deadline day signing Matty Willock and Ibrahim Meite, who joined as a free agent on February 1st, will both make their debuts if selected to play. Oldham also have a fully fit squad to select from.
THE MATCH OFFICIALS
John Busby will be the the man in the middle. It will be his 32nd appointment this season in League and Cup. So far he has given out 70 yellow and five red cards.
He was in charge back in November for the 1-1 home draw against Exeter City. The Oxfordshire official will be refereeing a Crawley game for the seventh time at the weekend.
Previous to this season, his last Reds appointment was our 1-0 win over Stevenage in our final match of 2017. He was also in charge of our 3-1 defeat at home to Fulham U23 in the Checkatrade Trophy and our 1-0 loss to Notts County last season.
He also refereed our 2-0 win over Yeovil Town and a 3-1 loss to Cambridge, both in the 2016/17 campaign.
On Saturday he will be assisted by Dan Cook and Stephen Brown. Lee Venamore is the fourth official.
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.
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.
