Crawleyvs.Stevenage

Rob Elliot's Crawley are currently 19th with 19 points from their 18 games this season, while Alex Revell's Stevenage occupy 14th place after picking up 22 points from 17 matches.

Match preview

Just promoted last season, Crawley have clawed themselves away from the relegation zone with back-to-back wins in League One, and will be full of confidence heading into this weekend's clash.

Last time out, the Red Devils paid a visit to manager Elliot's former club Charlton Athletic and gained an important three points with a 2-1 win at The Valley.

In that game, Crawley took a first-half lead through Tola Showunmi's quality strike from the edge of the box before Charlton's Daniel Kanu netted an equaliser with just over 20 minutes remaining.

However, Max Anderson found a winner in the 80th minute to deliver an impressive victory for Elliot's side, who managed twice as many shots on target as their opponents despite being the away team.

Since Elliot's appointment at the start of October this year, he has overseen 11 league matches with the Red Devils and has a record of five losses, three draws and three wins, a respectable tally for a newly-promoted team.

It must be said that Elliot's side took some time to gel considering that he had just one win to accompany five losses from his first six league games, but Crawley have since found their feet in the division and are currently unbeaten in their last five fixtures, with two wins and three draws in that period.

Revell's Stevenage also come into this weekend's match on the back of a victory last time out in League One.

The Boro beat an injury-ravaged and relegation-threatened Northampton Town 2-0 at home on Tuesday, though they did benefit from a 28th-minute red card for Northampton's Tom Eaves and it took until the 89th minute for Dan Kemp to break the deadlock, before Jamie Reid netted just two minutes later.

Prior to that win, Revell's side were on a five-game winless streak in League One, a stretch that included two draws and three losses going back to October.

Additionally, Tuesday's win was the first time since their 3-0 win over Barnsley on September 14 that Stevenage have scored two or more goals in one match, a stat that is indicative of the attacking impotence that has the Boro bottom of League One's goalscoring charts.

With that being said, only four teams have conceded fewer than Stevenage's 16 goals this term, and Revell will be hoping that this defensive resilience will prove too much for Crawley to breach.

Crawley Town League One form:

L

D

D

D

W

W

Crawley Town form (all competitions):

D

L

D

W

L

W

Stevenage League One form:

L

L

L

D

D

W

Stevenage form (all competitions):

W

D

L

D

L

W

Team News

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Harry Forster both returned from injury against Charlton, and the latter may replace Benjamin Tanimu in the starting XI this weekend.

However, Junior Quitirna, who has been recovering from a hamstring injury, and Dion Conroy, who has been out since pre-season, are not quite ready to return to action despite being involved in the warm up at The Valley.

Elsewhere, longer-term absentees Jay Williams, Josh Flint and Ryan Sandford remain sidelined for Crawley.

Boss Alex Revell himself received a red card in Stevenage's last match and as a result will not be in the dugout this weekend, but Tuesday's goalscorers, midfielder Dan Kemp and forward Jamie Reid, are likely to start together once again.

Likewise, stalwart Carl Piergianni will marshall the defence alongside fellow centre-back Nathan Thompson as they look for their third consecutive clean sheet in League One.

Crawley Town possible starting lineup:

Wollacott; Forster, Mukena, Barker; Darcy, Anderson, Kelly, Camara, Adeyemo; Showunmi, Swan

Stevenage possible starting lineup:

Mahoney; James-Wildin, Thompson, Piergianni, Butler; Thompson, White, Kemp; List, Reid, Young

We say: Crawley Town 1-1 Stevenage

Crawley are in good form at the moment having recorded consecutive wins and will head into Saturday's game confident of achieving a positive result.

Written by

Anthony Nolan

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