Football – England – League One
Saturday 5th April 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
The Checkatrade.com Stadium is the venue of my next pick as hosts Crawley Town look to end a four match losing streak when they take on third from bottom club Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.
Immediately after their unexpected but great 2-1 home win over the mighty Wolves, Crawley have crashed to four straight defeats to Oldham Athletic, Sheffield United, Preston North End and Port Vale although it should be taken into consideration that the Red Devils played three of these four away from home.
Nevertheless, Crawley are still not out of the woods yet as far as relegation goes as they are only six points above the relegation zone but they do have three games in hand over the teams around them in the bottom half of League One so survival is firmly in their own hands. I’m confident that the Sheffield United loss was a mere blip which preceded a run of five matches without defeat and included wins over Notts County, Peterborough United, Colchester United and of course Wolves.
For the record, Crawley’s overall home stats are 8-5-5 18/19 and they’ve kept seven clean sheets so far in their home matches altogether, and they possess a 5-2-0 9/4 record over bottom half teams at home this term.
Visitors Crewe Alexandra had also staged a mini revival recently with points taken off Walsall and Oldham Athletic in 1-1 draws along with a 3-1 away win at Gillingham, but sadly that was the end of the line for The Railwaymen’s upturn in fortunes as they’ve lost their last two league matches back-to-back against Notts County and Coventry City, 1-3 and 1-2 respectively and both at their Gresty Road home.
These two defeats have plunged Crewe back into the bottom four but it’s still anyone’s guess as to who the final four teams will be who make the drop down to League Two as we enter a decisive April. Crewe’s away form has been mixed in recent weeks with wins away at Port Vale and Gillingham, draws at Bradford City and Walsall, and defeats at Stevenage and Peterborough, so it’s hard to guage where they’re at from week to week.
Crewe’s overall away record of 4-4-12 23/44 suggests that further away wins are a slim chance particularly given the fact that they’ve conceded the most number of away goals in the division and have kept just one clean sheet on their travels all season.
Crawley know they have a good chance of securing their League One status in the next couple of matches in hand, and with Crewe’s defence giving up goals left, right and centre, I’ll back the hosts to pick up the points here in what could be a 2-1 win.
Pick: Crawley Town straight win @ 2.02 Pinnacle
