SCENE SETTER
The Reds are back at home in West Sussex as we take on seventh-placed Exeter City at The People’s Pension Stadium tomorrow at an earlier kick-off time of 1pm in Sky Bet League Two action, four months after the reverse fixture in a game we lost 2-1 after going ahead thanks to a strike from Max Watters.
FORM GUIDE
After a bright start to 2021 with wins against Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United, the Reds have struggled in recent fixtures to achieve many points, with four gained out of the last possible eighteen.
Following a winless run of four league games after our fourth-round cup exit, John Yems’ Crawley showed real promise against Colchester United, creating many chances and shooting at goal more often than past fixtures. James Tilley stroked the ball into the net with almost the last kick of the game to hand us a richly deserved three points, with the composed strike giving us our first league win since January 2.
On Tuesday night, the Reds travelled to Grimsby, who sat in bottom spot in the lead up to the game. Ex-Red Filipe Morais gave the Mariners an early lead before Jack Powell equalised nine minutes later with a precise free-kick.
A long Grimsby throw-in was nodded on by substitute James Hanson into the path of an unmarked Joe Adams who stabbed home to hand Grimsby the three points and lift them off the foot of the table.
Exeter have had a solid start to 2021, winning four, drawing three and losing two in the league. The Grecians are unbeaten in four league fixtures in the run up to tomorrow’s game, beating Stevenage, Bradford City and Colchester United and taking a point against Newport County.
Ben Seymour scored his first league goal of the season against struggling Colchester on Tuesday in a 1-2 victory, as new signing Robbie Willmott also scored with two assists for Josh Key.
THE HISTORY
Since 2015, the sides have met eleven times, with Crawley victorious on three occasions. Exeter have won four of these ties with four ending in score draws.
Both teams have scored in seven of our last eight meetings with the Devon side. Our last win against Exeter at home came in 2017, as the Reds ran out 3-1 winners thanks to a Jordan Roberts brace and a Josh Payne penalty.
THE OPPOSITION
Matt Jay has played a key role this season supporting the forwards and creating goal-scoring opportunities in the final third. Jay made two assists in the recent win over Colchester and has scored goals in games against Stevenage and Bradford in 2021. He has 11 league goals so far this season and is likely to partner Ben Seymour tomorrow, with Ryan Bowman’s suspension still in place.
Captain Jake Taylor will sit in the heart of midfield, as Reds fans may remember him after he had a brief spell in West Sussex in the 2012/13 season, where he made four league appearances.
Both teams have scored in 71% of Exeter’s away games this season, with a score draw being the final result on the road in 43% of fixtures.
TEAM NEWS
Reece Grego-Cox, Henry Burnett, Tom Dallison and Tony Craig are unavailable.
HOW THEY BET*
Crawley Town 23/10
Draw 12/5
Exeter City 6/5
*Odds correct with EFL partners Sky Bet at the time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.
COVERAGE
You can watch the match live on iFollow from 12:50 with coverage from Gary Smith and Tony Vessey.
You can purchase a match pass for £10 by clicking here.
