Crawley v County: Match Thread (18/09/2024)

Top of the form table. Honestly I’d take a point right now.

OK so it's on to Crawley - what can we tell? Well they stand 10th with a record of W 17 D 4 L 15F 53 A 52, which Ds aside is pretty symmetrical and mid-table-esque. Their H record is W 10 D 1 L 7 F 31 A 23, which is 13th in L 2. So although the number of Ws is impressive they don't look intimidating to me at first glance.

The Ws are Bratfut (h) 1-0 on opening day, MKD (h) 2-1, Newport (h) 4-1, Tranmere (h) 3-2, Grimsby (a) 2-3, Sutton (h) 3-0, Accy Stanley (a) 3-1, Harrogate (h) 2-1, Cole U (a) 1-2, Gillingham (a) 0-2, Swindon (h) 3-1, Bratfut (a) 2-4, FGR (h) 2-0, AFC Wombles (a) 0-1, Accy Stanley (a) 0-1, Harrogate (a) 1-2 and Notts (h) 2-1. The Ds are Salford City (a) 1-1, County (a) 3-3, Walsall (a) 1-1 and Walsall (h) 1-1. The Ls are Gillingham (h) 0-1, Swindon (a) 6-0, Donny (a) 2-0, Wrexham (h) 0-1, Crewe (h) 2-4, FGR (a) 2-1, Barrow (a) 1-0, Notts (a) 3-1, Mansfield (h) 1-3, AFC Wombles 1-2, MKD (a) 2-0, Salford (h) 0-1, Morecambe (h) 1-2, Crewe (a) 1-0 and Morecambe (a) 0-1.

I make that 3 Ws against top 10 sides: MKD early in the season, Gillingham and Wombles, doubles over Bratfut and Accy Stanley are not especially impressive. Meanwhile they have 8 Ls against top 10 sides which suggests a side of limited potency. They've kept 6 clean sheets and been kept scoreless 9 times, mostly by the better teams in L2. They've got a goal in them, maybe a few, they've scored 3 or more 8 times, mostly against modest opposition. Their D is not terribly strong, conceding 3 or more 5 times, including 6 v Swindon.

Their top scorer is 6ft 2 Danilo Orsi on 15 from 35 apps this term. He was previously at Grimsby (2 in 24 games) and Harrogate Town (1 in 10 apps) but spent most of his career as a regular scorer for a clutch of southern non-league teams. He may be having the best spell of his career. Next up on 7 from 39 apps is Greek Klaidi Lolas, he started out for Plymouth Gargoyles and then had spells at Torquay and Oxford City. Striker-cum-winger Adam Campbell has scored 6 in 32 apps this term having previously played for Gateshead, Darlington and Notts County. MF Ronan Darcy has scored 4 in 32 apps after scoring 4 in 43 for Swindon, also on 4 is 6ft 3 D Will Wright (35apps this term after 7 in 135 for Dagenham and Redbridge).A couple of players have 3 each, 4 more have 2 apiece and two more have 1 apiece.

I'm struck that so many players have each played 30-some games this term, suggesting a stable squad with, perhaps, a settled style of play, but with a bit of a ceiling on what they can achieve, hmmmm, dunno. Interesting then that they only signed a few players in the window - ex-Millwall GK Ryan Sandford on a short term deal, Huddersfield CB Mustapha Olagunju on loan and free agent MF Jeremy Kelly who has mostly played in the USA, his last club being FC Tulsa. He is also on a short term deal.

So the picture I'm getting of a club that is comfortably mid table, with potential to flirt with the playoffs, but not one striving especially hard to get there.

This is, therefore, a game where County should be looking to win, and perhaps by a few. Maybe with an early goal to County that will happen but I suspect Crawley would be happy to take a draw here, and if they get an early goal and County get nervous then who knows. Even so, we should win this so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

I emailed the club on Monday night regarding the stream not working and my subsequent account ban and, aside from the initial auto-reply email, I've heard nothing from them since.

Absolutely p**s-poor.

I won't be buying a stream again, I don't care how important the game is.