Re: Crawley in League 1
Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:59 pm
Hartlepool 0 Crawley 1
Crawley once again took the points from struggling Hartlepool in a match where the score was deceptive and we should have won by a greater margin. One early goal proved enough in the end, though it led to some tense moments.
From kick off, The Reds put The Monkey Hangers under pressure and their goalie had some work to do until, in the 15th minute, Hope Akpan drove the ball low from outside the box past their keeper 0-1.
The rest of the first half was much of the same as Crawley had the balance of play and kept the Hartlepool defence busy for periods.
The second half was again mainly Crawley but nothing further came of any of our attempts. It was not as one sided as the first half and our keeper and our defence kept us in a winning position with some good saves and blocks. A few wobbly moments but also several times where we should have improved on the score. FT 0-1.
Again our goal came from a midfielder which is great but the ongoing concern is that our strikers cannot seem to find the net
The Hartlepool ground, Victoria Park is a nice compact stadium with a capacity of nearly 8000 so it was about half full with the 3852 including a reported 118 Reds fans. It looked more than that to me but still a good effort considering the distance involved. Hartlepool itself impressed me. A nice friendly town surrounded by beautiful countryside and the coast, good cheap pubs too We stayed overnight in nearby Seaton Carew which is a quiet coastal suburb again very friendly, possibly only lacking in Pubs. We were made very welcome in the Seaton Carew Social club, two doors away from where we were staying which was handy. I hope in a way we get the chance to play Hartlepool again next year so I can visit again. They are sitting second from bottom of the table so there is a strong possibility that they'll be relegated unless their fortunes improve which I hope happens for them. There is a chance of us being promoted too but I'd rather not tempt fate...
Next up is against Milton Keynes Dons at home tomorrow Tuesday 23rd, KO 19:45. Tickets are still available as I write. For this match, it is possible that we will be joined in the home end by some of our friends from AFC Wimbledon keen to see us get one over on the team that was taken away from Wimbledon and moved to Milton Keynes in a move that split the football world at the time. Of course with us, MKD and Stevenage all in league 1, this trio has been dubbed the 'New Town's Cup'
We need to score more goals and tomorrow would be a good time to start. MKD are five points behind us and in eighth place so this has the hallmark of being a very tough game. Kyle McFadzean is unlikely to play after he appeared to be knocked out in a challenge on Saturday and we will certainly miss him. Fingers crossed for this match.
In other news, Crawley has drawn Met Police at their place near Hampton Court. We are the 4th highest ranked team in this round and they are the lowest so they'll be looking for a giant killing act They'll have to do it without our Jonte Smith who has been scoring for fun for them recently. FA rules do not allow him to play against his parent club and he can't play for us which is fair enough but obviously very disappointing for Jonte. Their ground holds about 3000 so ticket availability is largely dependant on how many tickets they allocate us. With 1600 ish season ticket holders it will obviously be possible to sell our allocation to season ticket holders alone. With them being lowest ranked and at home, it is quite possible that the match will attract TV coverage though. Once more details are released, I'll update this page.
COME ON YOU REDS!
Crawley once again took the points from struggling Hartlepool in a match where the score was deceptive and we should have won by a greater margin. One early goal proved enough in the end, though it led to some tense moments.
From kick off, The Reds put The Monkey Hangers under pressure and their goalie had some work to do until, in the 15th minute, Hope Akpan drove the ball low from outside the box past their keeper 0-1.
The rest of the first half was much of the same as Crawley had the balance of play and kept the Hartlepool defence busy for periods.
The second half was again mainly Crawley but nothing further came of any of our attempts. It was not as one sided as the first half and our keeper and our defence kept us in a winning position with some good saves and blocks. A few wobbly moments but also several times where we should have improved on the score. FT 0-1.
Again our goal came from a midfielder which is great but the ongoing concern is that our strikers cannot seem to find the net
The Hartlepool ground, Victoria Park is a nice compact stadium with a capacity of nearly 8000 so it was about half full with the 3852 including a reported 118 Reds fans. It looked more than that to me but still a good effort considering the distance involved. Hartlepool itself impressed me. A nice friendly town surrounded by beautiful countryside and the coast, good cheap pubs too We stayed overnight in nearby Seaton Carew which is a quiet coastal suburb again very friendly, possibly only lacking in Pubs. We were made very welcome in the Seaton Carew Social club, two doors away from where we were staying which was handy. I hope in a way we get the chance to play Hartlepool again next year so I can visit again. They are sitting second from bottom of the table so there is a strong possibility that they'll be relegated unless their fortunes improve which I hope happens for them. There is a chance of us being promoted too but I'd rather not tempt fate...
Next up is against Milton Keynes Dons at home tomorrow Tuesday 23rd, KO 19:45. Tickets are still available as I write. For this match, it is possible that we will be joined in the home end by some of our friends from AFC Wimbledon keen to see us get one over on the team that was taken away from Wimbledon and moved to Milton Keynes in a move that split the football world at the time. Of course with us, MKD and Stevenage all in league 1, this trio has been dubbed the 'New Town's Cup'
We need to score more goals and tomorrow would be a good time to start. MKD are five points behind us and in eighth place so this has the hallmark of being a very tough game. Kyle McFadzean is unlikely to play after he appeared to be knocked out in a challenge on Saturday and we will certainly miss him. Fingers crossed for this match.
In other news, Crawley has drawn Met Police at their place near Hampton Court. We are the 4th highest ranked team in this round and they are the lowest so they'll be looking for a giant killing act They'll have to do it without our Jonte Smith who has been scoring for fun for them recently. FA rules do not allow him to play against his parent club and he can't play for us which is fair enough but obviously very disappointing for Jonte. Their ground holds about 3000 so ticket availability is largely dependant on how many tickets they allocate us. With 1600 ish season ticket holders it will obviously be possible to sell our allocation to season ticket holders alone. With them being lowest ranked and at home, it is quite possible that the match will attract TV coverage though. Once more details are released, I'll update this page.
COME ON YOU REDS!