After back-to-back home games, we hit the road again this Saturday afternoon when we travel to West Sussex to take on Crawley Town.
Graham Coughlan’s men will head into the game full of confidence after securing seven points from the last nine available and taking Premier League Brentford to penalties in the Carabao Cup.
Our last outing was our 2-2 draw with Wimbledon last Saturday. Goals from Will Evans and Omar Bogle saw us come from behind to secure a point against one of the league’s in-form teams.
Manager’s Comments
"Crawley are a totally different team (than last season)." Explained Graham.
"Going forward they are really dangerous, they score plenty of goals. They turned Charlton over in midweek, they drew three all with Stockport, so it is evident they do score goals.
"Crawley move the ball very well and have become a possession based team. The sheer hardwork, and honesty of the group is a credit to the management, they are a dangerous team."
Watch Graham Coughlan's full pre-match press conference below:
Opposition Form
Crawley has had the very definition of a mixed start to their campaign. The club has won 2, drawn 2, and lost 2 of its opening six League Two fixtures.
Like ourselves, their fans have seen plenty of goals in the opening weeks of the season. Unfortunately for Crawley, many of these have been at the wrong end, with the club having conceded 12 goals in their first six outings.
Nine of these 12 goals have been conceded in the last two games, with Crawley losing 6-0 to Swindon two weeks ago before being dramatically denied a win away at Stockport in an exciting 3-3 draw. The team also conceded three in a 4-3 win over Charlton in the Papa John’s Trophy this past Tuesday night.
Manager Scott Lindsey will have a few decisions to make with the starting 11 as he will look to shore up a leaky defence ahead of our visit.
Midfielder Jack Roles will look to get his first league start of the season after an impressive performance against The Addicks on Tuesday night.
Ticket Info
Ticket prices for Saturday’s game are as follows:
Seating
Adult - £17
Senior 60+ - £12
Student - £12
Young Adult 17-20 - £5
Under 16 - £4
Under 14 - £0 (with a full paying Adult)
Terracing
Adult - £15
Senior 60+ - £10
Student - £10
Young Adult 17-20 - £5
Under 16 - £4
Under 14 - £0 (with a paying Adult)
You can find out everything you need to know about our trip to Crawley this weekend by checking out our away fans travel guide.
Last Time Out
We last took on Crawley Town on January 2nd this year, with Rodney Parade witnessing a high-scoring encounter between the two teams. Former striker Dom Telford was on the score sheet for Crawley twice, but goals from Matt Dolan and Offrande Zanzala in the last 10 minutes saw us rescue a point.
Head to Head
Our first encounter with Crawley Town was back in the 2010/11 season in the National League. We defeated Crawley 3-2 at the Broadfield but were on the wrong end of a 1-0 loss at home later in the season.
We would next meet in the Papa John’s Trophy in 2013, winning the game 3-2. Crawley’s return to League Two in 2015/16 has made them regular opponents ever since. Overall, including those initial National League encounters, we have played Crawley Town 18 times, winning six, drawing five, and losing seven.
Played for Both
The most notable former player to have gone from Newport to Crawley Town in recent years is Dom Telford. After hitting the net 25 times in the 21/22 season, Telford attracted a lot of attention from across the Football League.
The striker eventually made the move to West Sussex, where he joined up with Crawley Town. His time at the Broadfield Stadium did not turn out to be quite as fruitful, though he still returned 12 goals in 43 appearances for the Red Devils. Telford left this summer and joined Barrow.