SCENE SETTER
Crawley host Mansfield Town for the fourth time in the League tonight (7.45pm).
The visitors are challenging strongly for promotion. They are fourth in the table, have only lost six League games and have the best defensive record with 30 goals conceded. They have, however, lost their last three away from home to Notts County, Newport County and Bury.
Reds returned to winning ways on Saturday, the 2-1 success over Grimsby ending a run of six matches without a win.
THE HISTORY
We have beaten Mansfield just once in the Football League era. That came in December 2017 when Joe McNerney and Ibrahim Meite – in his previous spell with Crawley - were on target in a 2-0 win. We had drawn 2-2 on the final day of the 2016-17 campaign thanks to goals from Jordan Roberts and Dean Cox after the Stags had raced into a 2-0 lead.
Three of our last four matches at Mansfield have ended in defeat. A 4-0 loss in September 2015 saw Gwion Edwards sent off and a 3-1 defeat the following season meant our dismal record at the One Call Stadium continued. On the final day of last season, Karlan Ahearne-Grant’s opener was cancelled out by Kane Hemmings in a 1-1 draw which meant the Reds sealed a 14th place finish in Harry Kewell’s first season in charge.
Our last trip to Mansfield saw another defeat for the Reds. Having originally been scheduled for early December, the match was called off 90 minutes before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch. When the game took place in January, the Reds were unlucky not to have got at least a point after squandering several chances before Tyler Walker scored late on to seal a 1-0 triumph for the Stags.
The clubs have also met four times in the Conference with Reds winning three, including both home games, and once at Mansfield in 2010.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Mansfield boss David Flitcroft said: “We have to look at that (Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Port Vale) to come up with the solution and go down to Crawley and give one hell of a performance. I’ll be picking a group of players that want to do that. If I was a supporter on Saturday, I’d have been disappointed and gone home unhappy – and I get that. Times that by ten, and that’s how I felt.”
TEAM NEWS
Jimmy Smith is still a long-term absentee for the Reds. Luke Gambin (groin) is also absent.
Central defender Ryan Sweeney (concussion) is out for Mansfield and fellow defender Matt Preston (knee) is a doubt but Tyler Walker returns after serving a two-match ban.
THE MATCH OFFICIALS
Lee Collins will be in charge of a Reds game for the second time this season, having been in charge for our 3-0 win over Crewe in November.
The Surrey official has given out 59 yellow cards and one red card in his 19 games so far this season.
Mr Collins will be assisted by Andrew Laver and Stephen Finch. The fourth official is Stuart Butler.
HOW THEY BET
Reds are priced at 9/4 to win tonight with Mansfield 23/20 and the draw available at 9/4. All odds supplied by League sponsors Sky Bet.
TICKET INFORMATION
Standard match prices apply tonight. For more details click here
MATCH COVERAGE
The game will be available for UK subscribers of iFollow from 7.40pm with live commentary from BBC Sussex & Surrey Sport's Gary Smith and summariser Tony Vessey.
You must be a subscriber to listen (UK) to this service. You can subscribe here. Overseas users can of course watch the action live.
A live match pass on iFollow for £10 will allow you to also watch tonight’s game.
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.
