SCENE SETTER
On the back of two consecutive league victories, the Reds will host Southend United at The People’s Pension Stadium tomorrow afternoon, in our fourth Sky Bet League Two fixture of the campaign.
FORM GUIDE
After over twelve months without one, the Reds picked up a lucrative away win over Oldham Athletic last weekend at Boundary Park, winning 3-2 in a game full of entertainment and attacking quality. After a slight injury precaution that kept him out of the Scunthorpe clash, Ashley Nadesan scored his first goal of the season, tapping home alertly after some brilliant individual work from the impressive Tarryn Allarakhia who squared the ball into the box after beating his man for pace on the left.
George Francomb gave the Reds the lead with an audacious effort from outside the area before new man and recently voted Fans’ Player of the Month, Tom Nichols, scored his second in two successive league fixtures. The Latics scored a consolation goal late on but it was the Reds who picked up all three points, moving to fourth in the league table.
Tomorrow’s visitors, Southend United, are yet to pick up a competitive victory, but have shared the majority of possession in their last two defeats to Morecambe and Carlisle. The Shrimpers were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League One Gillingham in a tight affair which ended 1-0 to the Gills, before losing their first EFL Trophy group stage game to West Ham U21.
THE HISTORY
In the last competitive clash between the two sides, in the 2018/19 season’s FA Cup, Crawley turned around a two goal deficit with an Ollie Palmer brace to take the second-leg tie to extra time. However, in a crazy thirty minutes of football, the Shrimpers scored four times, sailing into the next round with a 6-2 AET victory.
In the first leg, after travelling to Roots Hall, the Reds clinched a 1-1 draw after a late Southend own-goal, but Crawley’s last victory over Saturday’s opposition came in 2011, where Reds ran out 3-0 victors in an August League Two clash.
THE OPPOSITION
Despite not claiming any points so far this season, Southend certainly cannot be underestimated going into tomorrow’s game. Striker, Brandon Goodship, enjoyed an incredible campaign in the 18/19 season with Weymouth, scoring 37 times in only 24 league appearances, helping the Terras win the 2018/19 Southern League Premier title; also picking up the Southern League Premier Golden Boot for the second consecutive season.
Jason Demetriou featured in both legs of our FA Cup aggregate defeat to the Shrimpers in the 2018/19 season. The Cypriot impressed and possesses key leadership qualities as Club Captain.
TEAM NEWS
Once again there are no new injury worries for the Reds, after Ashley Nadesan’s full recovery and performance last weekend against Oldham Athletic.
HOW THEY BET*
Crawley - 3/5
Draw - 29/10
Southend - 4/1
COVERAGE
You can purchase a match pass on iFollow Crawley for £10 by clicking here. Make sure to tune in to our pre-match show, Talk Of The Town, live on YouTube, for talks with John Yems, Tom Nichols and plenty more.
