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Crawley in League 1

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby steveizy » Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:56 pm

Crawley Town 2 Swansea 3

Crawley go out of the league cup after a closely fought battle last night at the Broadfield.

Both teams had a few missed chances before, in the 27th minute, Swansea's Miguel Michu put a strong shot past Jones. One down but Crawley continued to push at the Swans and had a few attempts including an overhead kick from Billy Clarke that just missed. Then, seconds before the half time whistle, Josh Simpson put us back on equal terms with a low shot from outside the box and took one or two deflections before finding the net! :applause

The second half started brightly for the Reds and in the 62nd minute our pressure was rewarded by a goal from Hope Akpan low into the goal from close range :applause 2-1 and Hope had given us hope :hyper Swansea came back at us and put us under more pressure but the Reds were giving as good as they got and had the odd chance too. We were doing well at defending our fragile lead until, in the 74th minute their Danny Graham shattered our hopes by heading home from close range. 2-2, it looked like extra time and possibly penalties would decide the match. Worse was to come, in the second minute of added time (injury time) their Garry Monk found the Crawley net with a headed goal 2-3 and a few minutes later the ref blew for the end of the game. :cry

The Reds can hold their heads high, they did very well against Premier opposition, even scoring goals and being ahead at one stage which has not happened before in the club's history. :clap It was a very enjoyable game to watch, the score being the only downside. It was also nice to see fellow :mz ers dub and nevis at half time, enjoying the match.

I'm not going to issue warnings about possible sell-outs for the time being as it seems like scaremongering. Last night's attendance was a quite unremarkable 3963, including 937 Swansea fans. This was against Premier League opposition, albeit in a cup. :scratch

Anyway, we move on and hope the strong effort displayed against Swansea continues in the league when we face Carlisle away on Saturday. I'm booked on the coach and overnight stop at Morecambe. This will no doubt be a beer and curry evening hopefully to celebrate an away win, otherwise to drown our sorrows :drink :hungry

The next home match at Broadfield is versus Bournemouth on Tues 2 Oct, KO 7:45 pm... I hope we get to see Tubbsy... but I hope he doesn't score!

:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby steveizy » Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:25 am

Carlisle 0 Crawley 2

We took the long journey up to Carlisle not knowing what to expect after the recent ups and downs. The Swansea game gave us a bit of hope of getting something from this match though and the 144 away supporters who made the trip were rewarded with three points and a slight improvement in our table position from eighth to seventh. It made the long journey home seem a lot quicker. :joker

The match was played with a strong wind blowing throughout which helped neither team and left some of us feeling frozen. The first half was goalless but, in fairness, Carlisle should have been ahead but they seemed to lack the killer touch - something that Crawley fans know all about...

The second half continued in a similar way until we made the breakthrough in the 64th minute when our Spurs loanee defender Nathan Byrne scored a quality goal from the edge of the box low into the net. :applause 0-1. Nathan's first Crawley goal in only his second match - not bad for a defender!

After the goal, both teams still looked evenly balanced and Carlisle could have equalised but The Reds hung on. The game was put to bed when in the 73rd minute Nicky Adams hit what looked like a looping volley from distance that took a deflection, leaving their keeper stranded as it dropped into the net 0-2. :applause Lucky! They all count.

With over a quarter of an hour remaining, it was a little tense but it was nearly three when Nicky Ajose netted but was adjudged to be offside just before full time. Oh well.

Our man of the match on the coach was won by Jones, our keeper, who looked a safe pair of hands and our victory was largely down to him.

A crowd of 4221, including our 144 watched at Brunton Park, a nice stadium, mixture of old and new. The natives seemed friendly as did the stewards. All in all a good day all round.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this was an overnighter down in Morecambe and we were all able to go out on the town with something to celebrate. Comfortable B&B and a good breakfast before the trip home. That seemed to fly by for most of us because of the jubilant mood on board, but a couple were nursing serious hangovers!

Next is Bournemouth at home tomorrow night. If only our home form was as good as our away form...

:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby Nevis » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:41 am

steveizy wrote:Crawley Town 2 Swansea 3

Crawley go out of the league cup after a closely fought battle last night at the Broadfield.

Both teams had a few missed chances before, in the 27th minute, Swansea's Miguel Michu put a strong shot past Jones. One down but Crawley continued to push at the Swans and had a few attempts including an overhead kick from Billy Clarke that just missed. Then, seconds before the half time whistle, Josh Simpson put us back on equal terms with a low shot from outside the box and took one or two deflections before finding the net! :applause

The second half started brightly for the Reds and in the 62nd minute our pressure was rewarded by a goal from Hope Akpan low into the goal from close range :applause 2-1 and Hope had given us hope :hyper Swansea came back at us and put us under more pressure but the Reds were giving as good as they got and had the odd chance too. We were doing well at defending our fragile lead until, in the 74th minute their Danny Graham shattered our hopes by heading home from close range. 2-2, it looked like extra time and possibly penalties would decide the match. Worse was to come, in the second minute of added time (injury time) their Garry Monk found the Crawley net with a headed goal 2-3 and a few minutes later the ref blew for the end of the game. :cry

The Reds can hold their heads high, they did very well against Premier opposition, even scoring goals and being ahead at one stage which has not happened before in the club's history. :clap It was a very enjoyable game to watch, the score being the only downside. It was also nice to see fellow :mz ers dub and nevis at half time, enjoying the match.

I'm not going to issue warnings about possible sell-outs for the time being as it seems like scaremongering. Last night's attendance was a quite unremarkable 3963, including 937 Swansea fans. This was against Premier League opposition, albeit in a cup. :scratch

Anyway, we move on and hope the strong effort displayed against Swansea continues in the league when we face Carlisle away on Saturday. I'm booked on the coach and overnight stop at Morecambe. This will no doubt be a beer and curry evening hopefully to celebrate an away win, otherwise to drown our sorrows :drink :hungry

The next home match at Broadfield is versus Bournemouth on Tues 2 Oct, KO 7:45 pm... I hope we get to see Tubbsy... but I hope he doesn't score!

:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf


It was a marvelous game. :applause :applause :scarf

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby steveizy » Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:22 pm

Crawley 3 Bournemouth 1

After the impressive way that the Reds had played against Swansea and Carlisle, I suppose that this emphatic victory should not really cause any surprise, especially against a crisis suffering team languishing low in the table. But the result was still way above expectations. Like a wounded animal, Bournemouth were unpredictable and anything could have happened.

The Cherries started the better team, with The Reds looking poor. After 10 minutes, their Frank Demouge suffered a broken nose from a legal challenge and was stretchered off, to be replaced by Broadfield hero Matt Tubbs who earned a rapturous welcome from us Crawley fans eager and pleased to see him again - even as an opposition danger!

Matt almost immediately caused us a problem but then, despite being in good striker positions was just not getting the service and posed us little danger for the rest of the match. Crawley took the lead after Hope Akpan scored from close range off a corner :applause . Half an hour gone and Crawley were getting stronger. Just before half time, Joe Walsh headed home from another corner :applause to put us in a more comfortable 2-0 position before the break.

The second half had a little downturn for us when The Cherries got one back, now 2-1. This inspired a bit of a Cherries comeback, but was dealt with until our fragile lead was extended to 3-1 by Nicky Adams from a close-in shot. :applause This knocked any remaining steam out of them and Bournemouth posed few further problems. We might have scored a couple more after that to add to David James's unhappy recollections of the Broadfield Stadium. He had shipped one here that resulted in Crawley beating Championship Bristol City in the FA Cup and the scorer was .......Tubbsy laugh

Good game, good result which pushes us up to third in League One :shock: . Sad to see a player like Matt Tubbs, who scored at Broadfield for fun, looking a shadow of his former self with no service to him. Although we absolutely didn't want him to score of course, we never even really got a glimpse of his old talents. I suppose we can't have it both ways!

The crowd was a predictable 2928 and of that, 435 were Cherries so that means no progress is being made whatsoever building on the core local support which hovers in the 2500-2700 area. This objective wasn't helped by the news that the club had decided to re-impose the smoking ban on "instructions" from the FA. OK, it won't turn many away but extra "nanny" rules are generally disliked these days by all of us, except politicians, so it certainly won't help build attendances. Most other clubs at our level manage to find a way to accommodate smokers as they recognise that, although "Lepers" - they are a valuable contribution to revenue. One day our club will get wise.

Rant over, next up for us is an unusual away double act. We face Brentford at their place on Saturday in the League. Then we go back again on Tuesday for the Paint-Pot cup match. At least it isn't Carlisle twice! No need for a coach here as it is easier by train especially in groups. Brentford are mid table so doing OK and we are really going to have to play... then again on Tuesday whatever the result on Saturday - WOW!


:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby steveizy » Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:02 am

Brentford 2 Crawley 1

Crawley were outplayed by a strong Brentford side that really deserved to win by a larger margin had it not been for some excellent saves by Paul Jones. Jones made a mistake leading to a goal but he was, by far, the best Crawley player. We were lacking in midfield and defence and our strikers never really looked a threat.

In the 23rd minute, The Bees were rewarded with their first goal which they deserved from the balance of play. More Brentford pressure followed and we were kept under pressure until half time.

The second half saw us trying to get into the game a bit more and this was rewarded by an odd equaliser in the 59th minute when a ball was sent parallel to the goal line to be bundled in. It looked like an own goal to me but Adams has been credited so I'll have to look closely at the replay. :scratch 1-1 and we were back in the game. After this The Reds looked like they had found a bit of confidence even pushing at the Bees for the first time really. Our hopes for a point were dashed when they got the winner on 76 minutes.
Even 10 minutes injury time didn't help.

We made substitutions, too late in most peoples eyes, so they were not effective. If our goal was indeed scored by Adams then it is another from a midfielder - our strikers don't seem to be finding the net at all recently which is a worry.

Fair result for The Bees and no complaints from us. We have to learn from this and we get another chance against Brentford on Tuesday night in the Paint Pot Cup. Both teams will make changes to their sides. It's looking doubtful whether I'll be able to get to this though I'd very much like to.

Saturday, we are at home to bottom-place Bury, who we beat last year in the FA Cup when they were a league above us. Bottom or not, they will have something to prove and at the moment the best I think we can hope for is a narrow win. I hope I'm wrong.

:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby dub » Mon Oct 08, 2012 12:29 am

Brentford again on Tuesday :o It's going to be 'Pay back' ! :scarf :punch
A narrow win against Bolton sounds good to me :clap Bolton :pL
COME ON YOU REDS :crawleyscarf :aok
:mz

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Re: Crawley in League 1

Postby steveizy » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:10 am

Crawley 3 Bury 2

After the disappointment of losing twice to Brentford last week, we came away with the points yesterday but only just.

The first half was a bit slow but Crawley had a few chances and probably the balance of play. Just before half time, ex Shaker, Nicky Adams hit our first goal from close range :applause HT 1-0.

After the break, Bury looked a bit more up for it until the 53rd minute when Hope Akpan scored from the edge of the box to make it 2-0 :applause That goal should have put us in a very strong position to go on and win easily. But it didn't! We seemed to go to sleep instead and Bury clawed their way back into the game and, in the 66th minute, their Tom Hopper headed in from the six yard line 2-1. Things got worse for The Reds as The Shakers found some confidence and three minutes later it was all square after their Andy Bishop headed home again from close in. 2-2 and Crawley not looking too good :indifferent After that the game came to life a bit more and both teams had chances that could have swung the result either way, but it looked like the best we could hope for would be a draw. Thanks to injury time that proved not to be the case when Nicky Adams got his second in the 94th minute. :applause It was a bit of a fluke as Nicky had tried to make a cross but, instead, sliced the ball goalwards beating their keeper in the process! Not the nicest way to win a game but they all count. FT 3-2, three points which puts us fourth in League 1.Quite amazing.

The crowd was a more respectable 3300, with, I estimate, about 200 Bury fans so this was an improvement on recent gates. Some of this must be down to the club's £10 offer for Premier season ticket holders who had no game yesterday. If so - full marks to the club.

With no match on Tuesday, our next is away at Hartlepool on Saturday 20th October. This is our second longest way trip this season, being slightly shorter than Carlisle and to a part of the country I've never been to. This will be an overnight stay for us and we are looking forward to the match and the evening after whatever the result :cheers Hopefully the long journey home will be eased by taking the points which we should do considering Hartlepool is languishing in second from bottom place. We struggled against Bury at home but we seem to do well away - another tough match, as they all will be.

Going back to the Brentford JPT match, I was unable to attend last Tuesday and it seems that I didn't miss much as Crawley lost 1-0 after a lacklustre performance so I'm told. So not much to report there :indifferent Dub, revenge will have to wait until next year when the Bees come to Broadfield on Tues 26 Feb 2013. Four months is a long time in football and anything can happen between now and then. I hope we have a striker or two that can score goals by then!

:scarf :scarf :scarf COME ON YOU REDS! :scarf :scarf :scarf

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