Stevenage Football Club make the 84-mile trip south to West Sussex for a Sky Bet League Two clash with Crawley Town on Saturday…
Paul Tisdale’s men aim to get back to winning ways this weekend with victory over John Yems’ Crawley Town. Boro’s opponents come into this fixture off the back of a 1-1 draw on Tuesday away to Swindon Town, after a 2-1 win against Bradford three days prior. Stevenage’s five game unbeaten run came to an end earlier in the week as Tranmere’s second half goal was the difference maker.
Founded in 1896, Crawley were founding members of the West Sussex League but disbanded in 1935. The Red Devils were then re-established three years later and became a semi-professional club in 1962. They spent the next few decades in the Southern League before earning promotion to The Conference in 2004. Crawley won the title in 2011 and therefore gained promotion to the Football League for the first time in history. The next year The Reds were promoted to League One but spent just three seasons in the third tier.
John Yems’ side find themselves 13th in Sky Bet League Two, five points above Boro. Crawley have had a mixed bag of results this season, winning ten league games, losing eleven and drawing six. Despite having a lacklustre record at home this campaign with just four wins in twelve, The Reds currently hold the fourth best away record in the League. Their current top scorer is Kwesi Appiah with eight goals in all competitions.
Stevenage and Crawley are two sides extremely familiar with each other, having faced off thirty-two times in the past. Stevenage hold a 50%-win rate against The Red Devils, coming out on top sixteen times. The first clash between the sides was back in 1988 as Crawley won 1-0. In 2004, the sides would meet in the Conference where they’d face off a couple of times per season for the next six years.
Then, Crawley followed in the footsteps of Stevenage, earning back-to-back promotions a year after Boro. The clubs have now met in The Football League more times than in non-league. This season’s reverse fixture was originally
scheduled for a boxing day clash but was moved to the 18th of January. Boro won 2-1 at The Lamex through goals from recent stand-out stars, Luke Norris and Jake Taylor.
Crawley Town have played their home games at The People’s Pension Stadium since the late nineties. The stadium holds a capacity of 6,134 and reached a record attendance of 5,880 when Crawley hosted Reading in the FA Cup. Away fans are typically allocated the North Stand which is a small, roofed terrace which curves around the corner to join up with the West Stand.
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