PREVIEW: CRAWLEY TOWN (H)

23 January 2019

Swindon can go unbeaten in four with a win over Crawley Town this weekend and will hope to make it back-to-back wins after victory away against Tranmere last weekend.

Michael Doughty scored his third in two games after Marc Richards had put the Robins ahead at Prenton Park – the midfielder’s eventual winner was his 10^th of the campaign so far.

Town are yet to win at home this calendar year but came as close as possible against Lincoln City, with Jak McCourt having a fierce effort cleared off the line after Michael Doughty’s double had levelled the scoring at SN1.

Richie Wellens’ side now sit 11^th in the league, six points off the play-off places but since Boxing Day, their form sees them sit eight in the form table.

The Oppo

Earlier in the season, Town’s trip to face the Red Devils did not feature either of the two managers filling the dugout on Saturday. Both Phil Brown and Harry Kewell have been relieved of their duties since the dramatic 2-2 draw that day with Richie Wellens taking the hotseat at Swindon and Gabriele Cioffi taking the reigns at Crawley.

The West Sussex side’s recent form has been up and down – three losses on the bounce in the last three weeks were preceded by impressive wins over Colchester and Cheltenham to kick off the year.

Ollie Palmer is the Red Devils’ top scorer with 10 goals.

Head-to-head

Swindon’s record against Saturday’s visitors is not a good one – 2012 was the last time they came out on top against Crawley, and they’ve lost three of the eight games since them, drawing the rest.

That win, back in 2012, saw goals from Matt Ritchie, Tommy Miller and Raffaele De Vita.

25 Feb 2014 Swindon Town v Crawley Town D 1-1 League One

16 Aug 2014 Crawley Town v Swindon Town L 1-0 League One

21 Feb 2015 Swindon Town v Crawley Town L 1-2 League One

26 Aug 2017 Swindon Town v Crawley Town L 0-3 League Two

02 Apr 2018 Crawley Town v Swindon Town D 1-1 League Two

21 Aug 2018 Crawley Town v Swindon Town D 2-2 League Two

The Gaffer

Italian boss, Gabriele Cioffi was appointed Head Coach on September 7, 2018 - the day he celebrated his 43rd birthday.

Gabriele is a former defender who played extensively in Italy’s Serie B for 11 clubs, making nearly 400 appearances.

He turned to coaching in 2010 and has held a number of positions, both in Italy and abroad including spells in the academy at Adelaide United in Australia and at Arabian Gulf League side Al Jazira.

Most recently, he was part of Gianfranco Zola’s coaching staff during his time in charge of Birmingham City in the 2016-17 season. Last season he spent time with Fleetwood Town, learning the lower league circuit in England.

Match Reports

REPORT: SWINDON 0-1 CRAWLEY

26 January 2019

Filipe Morais’ goal on the stroke of half-time was enough to give Crawley a 1-0 win over Swindon at the County Ground.

Morais struck from a set-piece just before the break and, in a pretty drab affair, Town were unable to get anything out of the game despite having the majority of the ball.

Keshi Anderson had a penalty saved with two minutes of the game to go as Town fell to their first defeat in four games.

First Half

It was a first half that could only be described as dull – Swindon dominated possession throughout but the visitors made it scrappy and the home side struggled to develop any sort of rhythm.

Town’s first effort came on 21 minutes – Jak McCourt, who has had an excellent Christmas period, grabbed the ball after Keshi Anderson was fouled on the edge of the box. He drilled his free-kick past the wall, beating Glen Morris but not the post as the ball ricocheted away.

12 minutes later was the next one – Lawrence Vigouroux drilled a drop-kick out to Woolery who scampered after it, his low cross was good but so was the defending from Tom Dallison-Lisbon to stop Marc Richards getting on the end of it.

However, after a half of pretty much no attacking threat, Crawley were ahead on the stroke of half-time – a corner to the back post and the scrappiest of goals from Filipe Morais put Crawley ahead and embodied the opening 45 minutes.

Second Half

The first 20 minutes of the latter period were similar to the whole of the first – it took until the 65^th minute for Swindon to get behind the Crawley back four. Richards flicked on to Woolery whose shot was low and hard, but deflected round the post.

Ben House was introduced to the home crowd for the first time and almost grabbed an equaliser – Twine flicked the ball to him on the bounce and the young forward had his shot blocked by a combination of away bodies.

The Reading loanee was involved again with eight minutes to play – he nutmegged his man out wide, finding Twine. The academy graduate’s shot whistled just past the post.

Town’s biggest chance came with two to play – Canice Carroll played an excellent one-two with Keshi Anderson and was felled as he arrived into the box.

Anderson stepped up to take but had his effort saved by Morris low down to his right leaving Richie Wellens' men empty-handed as full-time.

Swindon Town

Standings

PREVIEW: CRAWLEY TOWN (H)

WELLENS: THERE'S NO HIDING, WE WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH

WELLENS: RICHARDS' FITNESS IS A MASSIVE PLUS FOR US

CURRAN: I TRY AND DO THE BASICS

WELLENS: PRESSING IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE

REPORT: SWINDON 0-1 CRAWLEY

WELLENS: THERE'S NO HIDING, WE WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH

WELLENS: RICHARDS' FITNESS IS A MASSIVE PLUS FOR US

CURRAN: I TRY AND DO THE BASICS

WELLENS: PRESSING IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE

Standings

Fixture News

WELLENS: THERE'S NO HIDING, WE WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH

WELLENS: RICHARDS' FITNESS IS A MASSIVE PLUS FOR US

CURRAN: I TRY AND DO THE BASICS

WELLENS: PRESSING IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE

Fixture News

WELLENS: THERE'S NO HIDING, WE WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH

WELLENS: RICHARDS' FITNESS IS A MASSIVE PLUS FOR US

CURRAN: I TRY AND DO THE BASICS

WELLENS: PRESSING IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE