Reds are back in action tonight when we travel to Fratton Park to play Portsmouth in the Leasing.com Trophy group stage, kick off 7.45pm.
SCENE SETTER
Reds go into the game in good form with wins in their last three in League and Cup. Pompey progressed to the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win at QPR last week. In the league they have picked up five points from five games including a 1-1 draw at Blackpool last Saturday.
TEAM NEWS
Joe McNerney (back) is still sidelined but otherwise we have a clean bill of health. Striker Oli Hawkins and Bryn Morris and winger Ryan Willams are sidelined for the hosts but defenders James Bolton and Sean Raggett are both expected to figure.
GABY'S THOUGHTS
"We have a good squad and the team against Portsmouth will be strong. It is an opportunity for members of the squad who haven't had a lot of game time to put themselves in contention again, to show me and our fans that they should be in the team regularly. It will be a difficult game against a League One side who are the champions of this competition but we are looking to go there, be positive and get a good start to our group matches."
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
It will be our third successive meeting with Pompey in this competition. Reds lost the previous two 3-1 at Fratton Park in 2017 and 1-0 at home last season.
Crawley have won one of the six League meetings between the sides back on Boxing Day 2012 when goals from Billy Clarke and Gary Alexander sealed a 2-1 success at Portsmouth.
That season we had two players sent off and lost 3-0 at home in the first competitive meeting between the clubs while in the 2015-16 campaign the sides drew 0-0 at Crawley and Pompey won the return 3-0.
The following season saw Pompey win the home clash 3-0 and 2-0 at Crawley on their way to promotion from League Two. We also met Portsmouth in pre-season back in July 2-1 with Mason Bloomfield scoring for Crawley.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Kenny Jackett (Portsmouth manager): "This was a long competition for us last season and got more important the closer we got to Wembley. The final was a fantastic day that we'll never forget and we'd love to do something similar this season."
HOW THEY BET
League sponsors Sky Bet's latest odds:
Portsmouth win: 2/5
Draw: 10/3
Crawley win: 11/2
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 Tony Vessey.
You must be a subscriber to listen (UK) to this service. You can subscribe here.
There will also be coverage across our social media channels throughout the game. @crawleytown on Twitter, Crawley Town FC on Facebook and officialcrawleytownfc on Instagram followed by post-match report and reaction.
