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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:24 am

Crawley Town 3 Burton Albion 0

Crawley go clear at the top of the League 2 table after this emphatic result against in-form Burton.

This was Crawley at its best - certainly the best I have seen this season. Let's hope it continues :clap

We dominated the game from the start especially in midfield where we were first to just about everything, but the whole team deserves credit.

The first goal came from one of David Hunt's long throw-ins, tapped on by McFadzean to Claude Davis who smashed it home. HT 1-0

No need for a Steve Evans "team talk" at half time today - Crawley could have been two or three up by the break. The second half started in similar style with The Reds now attacking the newly named Bruce Winfield Stand where the home terraces are, of course. The second goal was a bit confusing... Matt Tubbs sent in a cross that Tyrone Barnet seemed to get a touch and it seems their defender Webster tried to stop but the ball crossed the line. Very confusing - it all happened so quickly - hopefully it will be clearer from the replay. Although I would have given it to Tyrone, the goal has been classified as an own goal. But they all count and although it was a fudge it was deserved as The Brewers had been under siege from The Reds and only good goalkeeping had kept them in there with a chance in the minutes leading up to the goal. The third, from Matt Tubbs was, in my eyes, a contender for goal of the season although I'm sure that our friends from the BBC will have other ideas... Matt just let go with an amazing smash from at least 30 yards that flew past their keeper. I don't think any keeper in the world would have had a chance against this. Wonderful goal from the master and the icing on the cake for us fans after such an entertaining match :thunbsup

3001 fans including 216 from Burton watched this match played out in fine but very cold weather at The Broadfield. Not a bad turn out on a Saturday in the run up to Christmas. The £5 tickets, no doubt, helped.

I won't suggest a Man of The Match although the sponsors had to and they gave it to Tubbs. To me the whole team was outstanding and it would be impossible to single out a player who stood above the others - it didn't happen - they were all deserving :applause

Next up is away up at Crewe, in Cheshire, on Sat.17th December. Crewe are currently in the lower half of the table and if we play as well as we did yesterday, we should come away with the points. I am booked on this trip and looking forward to the game. Next at Broadfield is on Boxing Day when we entertain Gillingham in the local derby. The Gills, being just down the road, so to speak, are expected to bring a lot of support so a good atmosphere is assured! Hopefully the game will live up to expectations!
:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Dec 18, 2011 2:48 pm

Crewe Alexandra 1 Crawley 1

We set off from The Half Moon at 8am for this one and had a nice stop at The White Lion for a buffet and a few pints. We visited The White Lion previously on our FA Cup trip to Bury. We like it so much there that it has been decided that we will visit on our way to Macclesfield in March! ... the weather was freezing when we left Crawley and during the trip we experienced heavy snow not so far from Crewe. The ground staff had been working since early to clear and keep the pitch clear of snow. They did a very good job as the photos show.
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10,000 seat Gresty Road is quite impressive by League 2 standards as Crewe Alex have played in higher divisions in the past. They are known as The Railwaymen due to the proximity of Crewe Railway station and the important junction there.

Crawley were not at their best and very lucky to get a draw whilst Crewe looked up for it, I'm afraid. We just didn't have that sparkle that we have had recently. Crewe opened the scoring after just 9 minutes when Wes Fletcher headed home. Crewe had had two previous chances denied by Shearer. Fletcher was only to stay on the pitch for a further five minutes though. On 15 minutes he went into a heavy two footed challenge on Sergio Torres who was left reeling. Straight Red Card was the result... even as a Crawley fan, this did seem harsh but what the Ref says - goes and that's that :yes

Against 10 men should have given us a huge advantage but we failed to capitalise fully for the remainder of the match as Crewe dug-in. Tubbs headed home a lovely goal from an Andy Drury cross to put us level after 1/2 hour. HT 1-1

The second half was much of the same. Crawley had several shots off target but never really looked the threat they should have been against 10 men. FT 1-1 :indifferent

Still, a point is a point and after Southend lost unexpectedly at home on Friday to lowly Bradford :applause we are four points clear at the top of League2 and with better goal difference. A nice Christmas present to all us supporters :xmas

Next up is the Boxing Day clash at Broadfield with locals Gillingham who seem to have found their form again recently and presently sit in 7th place with 35 points compared to us, top with 46 points. A tough match with good support for both sides beckons...

This is my last match report before Christmas. So Happy Christmas to all readers - even those AFC supporters! See you all after and have a good one :drink
:xmas :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :xmas

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:51 pm

Crawley 1 Gillingham 2

Crawley's unbeaten run of 15 matches was ended yesterday at Broadfield by a Gillingham team on a bit of a run themselves, unbeaten in eight.

The game started badly for The Reds who didn't look their best. In the 18th minute Claude Davis was shown a straight red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity to their Kuffour who picked up a poor back pass from McFadzean. Claude hacked him down and took one for the team but it was the poor pass from McFadzean that caused the problem that resulted in the sending off. To his credit, Kyle has held his hands up for the incident.

10 man Crawley held on well though and it was Crawley who opened the scoring on 34 minutes when Tubbs scored from the spot after McFadzean was fouled in the box. HT 1-0

The second half saw the result turned around in the space of a few minutes as, first, Kuffour converted a cross from Whelpdale in the 50th minute and then again Kuffour on 52 mins as he ran right through the Crawley defence on to beat Shearer single-handedly.

Crawley pushed for the remainder of the match and very nearly equalised when a Tubbs header was cleared off their line. Their player Whelpdale had to be taken off injured near the end of the match for a most unusual injury resulting from a tackle that left him with a split scrotum needing stitches. Sounds most unpleasant!

This Boxing Day game saw the biggest league turnout at The Broadfield so far with 4,255 including 1350 Gills in attendance.

We are still top of the table for the moment... a place only the bookies believed possible after half the season but we will have to find the form that got us there again after the last couple of uninspiring games.

I think we'll start getting some of that confidence back in the next game on Friday when we play Barnet, again at The Broadfield. Barnet are currently in 20th place and smarting from their 3-0 defeat to fellow low flyers Dagenham and Redbridge yesterday. They should be ripe to give us 3 points but I ain't gonna put any money on it :indifferent
:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:32 pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Crawley 1 - Barnet 0

Sorry for the delay posting this - Where did yesterday go? :scratch

Three points keep us clear at the top of the table for now but this wasn't a classic performance by any standards.

Tyrone Barnett put us ahead after just three minutes when he converted a corner from Scott Neilson which Scott had, himself, mis-hit. One up after a few minutes led many of us to expect a bit of a goal feast but that was not to be.

Dean Howell hit the bar shortly after the first goal with an amazing long drive but after that The Reds seemed to be lacking ideas. The Bees never really looked a threat but did a good job of damage limitation frustrating The Reds and the game evolved into a hoofball contest with both teams lumping it long at every opportunity :thumbsdown

A few half chances for both teams but nothing of note happened for the remainder of the match and the score stayed at 1-0 until the final whistle.

A poor game watched by 3008 including 260ish Bees was not helped by the heavy, at times, rain and a slippery surface. Most importantly though another three points in the bag. Interestingly - Crawley - on 49 points for the new year puts us in a better position than Chersterfield were last season. Chesterfield went on to win promotion as champions so we are on course for promotion but with half the season remaining anything can happen... especially if we play as poorly as we did against Barnet and Gillingham :indifferent

Our next match is tomorrow away at Oxford United, k.o. 15:00. I'm going to this one with Carol and we're both looking forward to what will be a tough match. If Crawley can rediscover some of their lost form then a win is on the cards but I would be pleased to take a point from a draw. Oxford will want revenge for the 4-1 victory we had over them back in November at Broadfield. Their home form is quite good having lost only one so far this season whilst Crawley's away record is not bad either!
:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby Nevis » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:04 pm

I'm so jealous :duke
Your page has had over a thousand views :thunbsup :clap :crawleyscarf :wink
Well done :thanks

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Tue Jan 03, 2012 3:17 pm

Oxford United 1 - Crawley Town 1

Phew!... a last minute goal salvages a point and keeps us top of the table.

We travelled from The Half Moon again for this important fixture. Great journey of under two hours without stops which was nice for a change after some of the long trips recently. The 12,500 seat Kassam stadium is a quite impressive modern stadium situated on the outskirts of Oxford alongside a leisure complex where all sorts of activities take place along with a choice of eateries. We decided on the 'eat all you like' Indian buffet which was excellent and made a big change to eating inedible burgers/ hot dogs/pies that are the standard fare at most football clubs :burger Only one complaint about the Stadium was that only three sides are enclosed, leaving North side open. It just happened that the wind was blowing from the North and it was perishingly cold though fine - brrr!
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The game started well for Crawley and we pushed the Yellows into their own half for most of the first half but had few real clear chances to score. HT 0-0.

The second half started with The Reds in charge once more and we had a couple of chances in the first few minutes until a dreadful mistake by Shearer gifted them a goal. Shearer took too long with dealing with a pass back to him and ex-Reds player John Paul Pittman closed him down. Shearer's clearance hit Pittman and all he had to do was gently tap it in to put Oxford one up. Mistakes happen and Scott has, apparently, held his hands up for this one. Oxford held onto possession quite well after that gift, hoping to see the match out for the win. They put us under a bit of pressure as well and Scott had to make a couple of reasonable saves to keep our hopes alive.

We were also on the attack and Barnett missed what looked like a sitter when he blasted a ball over the crossbar high into the stands behind the goal. Sergio Torres was denied by brilliant goal keeping what would have been a spectacular goal and contender for goal of the season when his accurate overhead kick was just tipped over the bar. Overheads are always great to watch but often are wildly inaccurate. Not this one - inch perfect and only super goalkeeping kept the ball out of the net. Oh well!

It looked like Oxford were going to take the points and I think it is fair to say that most of us freezing Crawley supporters were resigned to this as the minutes ticked away. Then, in the last minute of normal time, Tyronne Barnett smashed the ball home after Claude Davis had sent a long Shearer goal kick his way. :applause Crawley fans went wild... I even did a little dance :banana Full time 1-1.

There were 9008 there and we took an amazing 621 on some six coaches. Five supporters alliance and the independent GH coach that I like to use. Many of the 621 made their own way by car or train. This has gone a great way to silence some of the fans from other clubs who like to ridicule us for our lowish away attendance figures. The Barmy Army is gaining strength week by week :thumbsup

Next up is at Broadfield on Saturday 7th when we face the massive task of dumping Championship Bristol City out of the FA Cup. City are not doing that well in the Championship though, languishing near to the relegation zone with only their superior, though negative, goal difference keeping them just above the danger zone. They might well be playing alongside us in League 1 next season assuming they are relegated and we are promoted. Both big assumptions at this stage of the season but indicative that the gulf between the teams is not as large as it seems. We can win this game and we do seem to rise well against higher opposition. Remember Derby County last year :rotfl
This match is expected to be a sell-out and will probably be our biggest gate of the season so far (capacity crowd?). Tickets are selling fast with only standing on the terrace available - so get your ticket now!
:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: FA Cup

Postby steveizy » Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:50 pm

Crawley Town 1 - Bristol City 0

Dumped them out of the FA Cup, as planned. :wink

What a great game! The Reds bossed The Robins for the whole match and if you didn't know the relative positions of the two teams, you would have assumed that we were the Championship side. The score doesn't really reflect our superiority though. With two rebounds from the inside of the post, it could easily have been 3-0 :applause

We started well on the attack and forced several corners in the first few minutes with Tyrone Barnett coming close from a header that went wide. A bit later, after hardly any City incursions into our half, Josh Simpson hit the upright having beaten their famous goalkeeper David James only for the ball to rebound from the post across the goal but there was nobody able to get on it. This was at the far, away, end and a lot of us thought that we had scored initially. Strangely 15 minutes later Matt Tubbs hit the same post only for the ball to rebound again. HT 0-0.

The second half started well and Tubbs, Barnett, Torres and Mills all having shots either saved or blocked. City did have one or two attempts as well during this period but Shearer was not really tested.

On 73 minutes, Matt Tubbs booked us a place in the fourth round with a superb run to score from inside their box after picking up a high pass from Torres. :applause The fans went wild and the already buzzing atmosphere became electric - high tension indeed! Could we hang on?

The Robins pushed and we conceded a couple of corners but they were both cleared harmlessly. Then on 81 minutes their Stephen Pearson was shown his second yellow, which automatically results in a red card, for a bad tackle on Josh Simpson. As well as being a goal up we were now a man up. The minutes ticked by with shots at both ends and just before the 90 minutes was up we learnt that we would have to endure another five minutes of added time, which in the end was nearly six!

But we held on for another famous victory over higher opposition... another scalp :applause The whole team was outstanding so once again I'm taking the easy way out and not nominating a Man of the Match as all the players deserve it.

The match was played out on a pleasant mild afternoon in front of 3,779 including a City turnout of 882. Not a bad crowd though a bit lower than estimated. By far the best atmosphere I have experienced at The Broadfield as us fans found our voices to urge our team on and, in effect, be the fabled 12th man :scarf The game and the support will remain etched in my mind for ever :thunbsup

Time to come down from the high for a moment as we await the draw for the 4th round which will take place after the second live match this afternoon which features Peterborough Utd. vs Sunderland. Before that Man City play Man Utd. A bit of a football feast this afternoon on ITV :-D

Whoever we get next round - Bring it on! I'll post as soon as the draw is done, so watch this space.

Next Saturday, the league comes back into focus as we travel to Bristol of all places to play Bristol Rovers who we beat 4-1 at Broadfield back in early September. Rovers have been pretty poor recently and eventually the fans got their wish as unpopular manager Paul Buckle was sacked. Possibly bad timing from a Crawley viewpoint as teams often bounce back from their woes after a management change. We're both booked on the coach for this one and looking forward to this important match. I think we will take the points and if we can play like we did today then we will win comfortably. Ironically, despite us dumping Bristol City out of the cup it seems that most of their supporters want us to dispose of Rovers such is the hatred rivalry between the two clubs. We will do our best to oblige!

Stay tuned...
:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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