SCENE SETTER
Crawley host Grimsby for the third time in our Football League history, looking for our first win on home soil since January 5.
The visitors are in decent form. They lost 2-0 at home to Cambridge last week but that came after a sequence of four wins out of five, form which earned boss Michael Jolley a nomination for February’s Manager of the Month. The Mariners are 14th in the table, seven points off the play-off spots, and have won three and drawn one of their last six on the road.
THE HISTORY
Reds will be looking to preserve a 100 per cent home record against the Mariners.
In both two previous encounters here, Reds have scored three goals including a 3-0 win last season.
We were in a rich vein of form when Grimsby arrived last February having won six of our previous seven games.
Reds broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time when Enzio Boldewijn was brought down by Luke Summerfield, and Jimmy Smith stroked home his seventh goal of the season from the penalty spot.
The second goal arrived in the 62nd minute when Karlan Ahearne-Grant, on loan from Charlton, scored his second goal in as many games with an unstoppable right-foot shot from the edge of the area. Boldewijn sealed a comfortable 3-0 win in the 69th minute by neatly chipping Killip from a deft pass by substitute Mark Randall. Victory moved Reds to within four points of the play-offs.
Our first League meeting with the Mariners came in November 2016 when Dermot Drummy was in charge of Crawley.
James Collins opened the scoring in the 31st minute when he converted Adi Yussuf’s cross but Omar Bogle, who was scoring goals for fun that season, levelled on the stroke of half-time.
Jordan Roberts then took centre stage. He scored his first goal for the club on 56 minutes with Collins getting the assist before making it 3-1 11 minutes from time when he netted direct from a corner. Bogle got his second in the last minute with a superb strike from 30 yards into the top corner but Reds held on.
Away from home Reds have a decent record at Blundell Park. There have been two League draws, the first in November 2017 when Rhys Murphy cancelled out Sam Jones’ opener in a 1-1 draw. Harry Kewell’s side chiselled out a 0-0 draw last season but Grimsby claimed their first League win against the Reds in November when they won 1-0 thanks to a late goal from sub Ahkeem Rose.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Grimsby boss Michael Jolley said: “I’m surprised that Crawley haven’t won more games over the course of the season, because I think they have got some effective players and some good players. It was a tight game earlier in the season, and it could have gone either way, but I think they are a capable team and it’s going to be another tough task.”
TEAM NEWS
Jimmy Smith is still a long-term absentee for the Reds. Luke Gambin and Ibrahim Meite are both fit now and Filipe Morais has recovered from flu and is available for selection.
John Welsh is Grimsby’s only absentee. Martyn Woolford should be available after recovering from injury.
THE MATCH OFFICIALS
Brett Huxtable will take charge of a Crawley Town fixture for the sixth time.
His last Reds game was the chaotic 2-1 win at Yeovil on New Year's Day 2018, when play was stopped for 15 minutes due to drone activity above Huish Park. In the same season, he was in charge of the 3-0 win at Swindon.
He was in charge of a 2-0 loss at Cambridge, a 1-0 win at home to Blackpool, and 1-1 draw at Doncaster during the 2016/17 season.
He has given out 110 yellow cards and 6 red cards in 31 matches so far this season.
Mr Huxtable will be assisted by Andrew William and Michael Webb, with Paul Yates the fourth official.
HOW THEY BET
Reds are priced at 6\4 to win tomorrow, with the Mariners 7/4 and the draw 21/10. All odds supplied by League sponsors Sky Bet.
TICKET INFORMATION
For more information click here
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 summariser Steve Copping.
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.
MATCH 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 summariser Steve Copping.
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.
