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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:46 pm

Bristol Rovers 0 Crawley Town 0

What a difference a week makes! Crawley slip to third in league two after this somewhat uninspiring draw against a Rovers side that did a job holding us. The cut-up pitch didn't help us either. Enough excuses - we played poorly.

We set off from The Half Moon at 8AM for the trip and drove straight to the Majors Retreat at Tormarton for our customary few pints and buffet. Another old pub, situated in the beautiful South Gloucestershire Cotswolds. Good selection of local real ales and menu and the 'Major' and his staff were very welcoming. I can recommend this pub if you ever find yourself in the area. Unfortunately, I left the phone on the coach so we relied on the camera which we found later had a smudge on the lens... so sorry for that!
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http://www.majorsretreat.co.uk/ gives more info (and better pictures). We plan to stop there again on our return from Plymouth next Sunday... more about that later.

After our leisurely beer and buffet, on to The Memorial Ground, home of Bristol Rovers. A rambling collection of stands as the stadium has obviously grown bit by bit over the years. Most of us away supporters opted for the Terraces located near to the corner with a good view - though open to the elements. This didn't matter as the weather was fine and dry, but chilly. There is seated, covered, accommodation available behind the goal though for those wet days. This is a dual use ground as Rovers share the place with Bristol Rugby Club. This might explain why the pitch was a bit lumpy and bumpy!
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Rovers are known as The Gas and their fans Gasheads! This came about apparently as a term of abuse from arch-enemies Bristol City when Rovers played at their old ground, Eastville where they played for 89 years until 1986. There was a large gasworks next to the stadium and gas wafted over the pitch. The name stuck so maybe, after-all, the joke is on City :neernerneener They are officially known as The Pirates from Bristol's long maritime history but this name is rarely used.

The game wasn't a classic but more of a hoofing contest from both teams. Long balls with next to nothing on the ground probably due to the pitch. Crawley, unchanged from their victory over Bristol City last week, had most of the possession for the match but were unable to convert any of their few chances. Shearer had to make one or two saves but was not really tested while their keeper, Poke, freshly signed on loan from Brighton had a bit more to do but kept a clean sheet. Tubbs and Barnett for us were both uncharacteristically quiet and our best chance came from Scott Neilson on as a second half substitute for Sergio Torres who also seemed not his usual self and apart from colliding with the referee did little in the first half. Kyle McFadzean had to go off injured with a head injury after a clash with one of their players and was replaced by Hope Akpan. FT0-0 Ho-hum :indifferent

The Gas were the first team to keep a clean sheet against The Reds since our loss at home against Swindon back in mid-September but we weren't beaten and came away with a point which keeps Crawley firmly in the top three. Gaps are beginning to develop in the table now and below us there is a buffer of five points to Swindon in fourth place. We have to preserve that gap and the only way to do that is by winning games. This brings added importance to our next match away at Plymouth next week where I think we will bounce back.

5082 including 253 travelling Reds watched the match. Not a bad turn-out from both sides.

Plymouth will be my first overnighter and I'm really looking forward to the weekend away. Carol can't make it but I will try my best to enjoy myself without her :wink After the match a big group of us are going for drinks (lots) and a curry :yum

After Plymouth, we are away in the FA Cup to Hull on the 28th, then away again on the 4th February when we travel to Bradford. The next match at Broadfield is scheduled for Tuesday 7th February when we face promotion rivals Cheltenham. The gap in fixtures will allow the club to concentrate on adding the new East Stand. Work has started after planning permission was granted recently http://www.crawleytownfc.com/page/Lates ... 72,00.html

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:35 pm

Plymouth 1 Crawley 1

Sorry for the delay posting this. I have had a computer/network problem this week but all seems to be working again now. :scratch

This was my first overnighter and I had a great time enjoying the Paignton nightlife with a group of fellow supporters :drink

Home Park is a mainly modern stadium with only one original stand remaining. The Plymouth fans are great and very friendly which made for a good atmosphere. 6417 in attendance including 186 of us from Crawley. Not a bad show considering the mileage some of us have totted up recently!
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The game was mostly in Crawley's favour and after one or two half-chances, Pablo Mills headed home from a David Hunt free kick on 45 mins. Tyrone Barnett had a clear chance with only the keeper to beat, but missed just before the half time whistle. The second half saw more of the same with The Reds pushing but not getting anywhere. Could we sit this out for a slim 1-0 victory? We all thought so but Plymouth were not going down without a fight and as the second half progressed they seemed to get more into their stride and had a few attempts... then just as we all thought we had survived came the killer blow. On the last minute of time their Blanchard scored with an overhead kick from close range that left Shearer helpless. 1-1 with just added time remaining. Then just to make matters worse Scott Neilson was clearly fouled in the box. Everybody in the stadium thought it was a penalty except the, otherwise OK, referee. :banghead

Well, we came away with a point and with other teams in the promotion chase losing we are now second on goal difference but our buffer to 4th place Swindon has been reduced to just three points. Swindon are a big threat and many people are predicting that they will go on to win league two at the end of the season. Time will tell.

Not a very convincing display from The Reds this week and we will have to raise our game quite a bit if we are are to remain serious in our challenge for promotion. Hopefully, we have had our blip of poor performances and can bounce back even stronger as has happened before.

Tomorrow, Saturday 28th, sees us forget the league for a while as we travel north to Hull to face Championship Hull City in the FA Cup. Despite our recent drop in form, I think that we will give them a good match. Crawley has a habit of raising the game against quality opposition so I am hoping, realistically, for a draw and a return at Broadfield! I'm booked on the coach with Carol and we are both looking forward to the match - win, draw or lose :scarf

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: FA Cup

Postby steveizy » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:00 pm

Hull City 0 - Crawley Town 1 :devil

Sorry for the late post. No excuses this time except the huge hang over that followed after celebrating this epic victory!

A very long but enjoyable day out started at The Half Moon and we departed at 8AM. We took a short comfort break at Peterborough services before driving on to Blyth, near Worksop. This gave us a nice long break before onward to Hull.

The KC Stadium is a rather impressive modern 25,000 seater dual-use stadium - the other tennants being Hull FC rugby league team. The pitch was in top notch condition. Very good facilities, good stewarding and a massive 1400 or so Crawley fans out of an attendance of 14,473 made for a great atmosphere before kick off and an even better one during the match.
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On the pitch, Crawley were awesome. Gone was the team that seemed to have lost a bit of direction recently. All of our boys were well up for this one and very focussed. Our new loan signing Sanchez Watt from Arsenal slotted into the team beautifully and made some very good contributions on his debut after meeting the team only a day or so before. Scott Shearer was exceptional in goal. I could go through the whole team - every one of them played a blinder!

From the whistle we succeeded in putting them under pressure whilst also denying them possession and it worked. For the first half hour or so The Tigers had no attempts on our goal whilst The Reds had four or five and a few corners. They got a bit stronger towards the end of the first half and Shearer was called on to make a couple of good saves. Barnett had another shot saved by their keeper just before half time. HT 0-0.

The second half saw The Tigers coming into the game a bit more but it was still mainly Crawley with several attempts on goal. In the 56th minute Tubbs ran onto a beautiful long pass on from Sergio Torres and beating their offside trap... Matt took his time and slotted the ball under their advancing keeper. :applause Hull 0 - Crawley 1.

All of us 1400 or so Crawley fans went wild with excitement and our singing went up by a few more decibels :scarf Terrific atmosphere!

But with over half an hour to go anything can happen in football so there was quite a bit of tension too and a few of us were thinking of Plymouth last week where a late goal denied us a win...We carried on pushing them though they did have a few attempts and Shearer was really tested on a couple of occasions. But the balance was still in Crawley's favour with Sanchez Watt unlucky twice in quick succession - the first being saved and the second being off the post after a Tyrone Barnet shot had been blocked. We contained them, with a few nail-biting moments, for the rest of the match and were still more of a threat to them than them to us.

Absolutely fantastic result. All of our boys did a good job :applause

The long journey home to Crawley was made a lot easier by the jubilant mood on the coach with a lot of speculation over who our next opponents would be in the 5th round! I don't think anyone mentioned being at home to Stoke!

Yes! After the draw on Sunday, Stoke City - last year's finalists come to Broadfield on the weekend of the 18/19 February as the first Premier League club to play there competitively ... this will be a sellout and could well be a TV match!

Last year Manchester United... this year Stoke. It is possible for our super team to win this at "Fortress Broadfield" and advance even further in the FA Cup! :devil What an upset that would be!

Next week we come back to League football as we face Bradford away at Bradford. I'm going on the coach with Carol for another long away journey... something like 1700 miles in the last few weeks. Should be a good game and Crawley will be keen to keep near to the top of the table whilst Bradford are trying to claw their way out of the danger zone at the bottom of the table. We will have to do without Matt Tubbs though :cry We have sold him today to Bournemouth for an undisclosed sum - believed to be circa 900K. This - for a fan is devastating news, although we all understand the reasons. We just hope that Evans brings in a replacement before the closure of the transfer window, though stepping into Matt's boots will be a tough act to follow. Thanks for everything Matt, you always gave us 110%. You will always be a legend at Crawley and good luck at Bournemouth :notworthy

Interesting times being a :crawleyscarf supporter :scarf

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: FA Cup

Postby steveizy » Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:21 pm

CRAWLEY Vs STOKE CITY

Crawley Town has announced ticket and game details for the biggest ever match to take place at The Broadfield.

Season ticket holders first day, then CTSA members next, then on Sunday 5th Feb tickets go on general sale. Such is the demand that this is strictly one ticket per person and no phone applications are being taken. Don't leave it if you want a ticket. This is a sellout before a ticket is sold and there are going to be some disappointed.

The match takes place on Sunday 19th February and kicks-off at 12:00.

http://www.crawleytownfc.com/page/Lates ... 79,00.html for more details.

Could we cause one of the biggest cup upsets ever? I think our boys could pull this off :devil

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:57 am

Bradford P - Crawley P Match postponed due to frozen pitch.

Bradford groundsmen were confident that the match would go ahead - but despite their pitch covers and warm fans blowing all-night they were unable to combat some of the lowest temperatures this year and the referee declared the pitch unfit at about 11:00.

We were only about 20 minutes away from our planned stop at The Miners Arms in Tankersley South Yorks so we continued and had a very nice buffet and beer. We left about 1:15pm, just as snow was beginning to fall and arrived back in Crawley at 6:30... 20 minutes later it was snowing heavily. Looks like the weather followed us down the M1. Glad we avoided being stranded on the coach although a few of us could happily have been stranded in the pub :drink

Only one League 2 match took place - Plymouth vs Southend which ended in a 2-2 draw. We are still in 4th place but have a game, or two, in hand over the three above us.

Although the main reason for our trip was cancelled, we all had a great day out :scratch

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Re: League Two

Postby dub » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:36 pm

It's good to know that you guys and a great day out especially after travelling all that way and more importantly you all got home safely before the really bad weather hit.
Shame about the match :yes
Roll on the the summer :glasses

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf

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Re: League Two

Postby steveizy » Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:18 pm

dub wrote:It's good to know that you guys and a great day out especially after travelling all that way and more importantly you all got home safely before the really bad weather hit.
Shame about the match :yes
Roll on the the summer :glasses

:crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf COME ON YOU REDS! :crawleyscarf :crawleyscarf


Yep, the decision to leave the pub when we did was a good one. Fortunately, our coach travel is insured against this sort of thing and nobody will be out of pocket - except the insurance company. :-D

A long way to travel to a pub for a Saturday drink but as I said all great fun!

The main problem for the club will be fixture congestion towards the end of the season and if we beat Stoke in the FA Cup, this will be even worse as league games will have to be re-arranged. Our home match this Tuesday against Cheltenham is also in doubt.

Yes - roll on summer! :rainy

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