Reds renew rivalries with Scunthorpe United again next season and when we take on the Iron it will be the fifth and sixth meetings between the clubs.
All four previous games have taken place in League One and Scunthorpe’s first visit to Crawley in August 2012 was a red-letter day for Reds, our first home game in the third tier.
And what a day it was for Crawley who won 3-0 against a Scunthorpe side managed that day by Alan Knill, who has just been promoted to the Premier League as assistant to Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder.
A crowd of 3,172 saw Reds go in front on 33 minutes through Gary Alexander’s penalty (main picture). The striker scored again midway through the second half before Jonathan Forte (pictured below), who had signed on loan from Southampton the previous day, raced through to make it 3-0 late on.
Our first visit to Glanford Park came in February 2013 when Matt Sparrow put Reds ahead early in the second half.
But the hosts came back to win it 2-1 thanks to goals from Jimmy Ryan and Niall Canavan. The home attack included Karl Hawley, who had a brief spell with Reds in 2012.
It was November 2014 before we met again in League One, with Reds struggling at the bottom of the table and the campaign eventually ended in relegation.
A thrilling game ended in a 2-2 draw, but it looked grim for Reds who trailed 2-0 early in the second half to goals from Paddy Madden and Lyle Taylor.
But Dean Leacock pulled one back on 76 minutes and four minutes later Izale McLeod made it 2-2.
When we headed to Humberside in April 2014 Reds were desperate for points and Scunthorpe took a first-half lead through Ryan Dickson’s own goal. Madden made it 2-0 and although Reds pushed forward after McLeod had pulled one back in the 77th minute the hosts held on for a 2-1 win.
