After the pair couldn’t be separated at the Broadfield Stadium in West Sussex, a replay is needed to decide the fate of these two sides as League One meets Conference National for the second time in a fortnight only viewers and fans alike are guaranteed an outcome second time around, with extra-time and penalties to fall back should the pair remain deadlocked come the full-time whistle.
Although Crawly boasted the advantage of playing at home first time out, the Conference side didn’t make the most of it and come the end were more than a little fortunate to snatch the draw. The visitors that day, Swindon, were by far and away the better team, more adventurous with their play and certainly a lot more dangerous in the final third of the pitch. Charlie Austin, who else, had opened the scoring for Swindon with his ninth goal of the season, however his effort was to be cancelled out by Crawley’s most prolific asset in Matt Tubbs, who scored his fifteenth goal of the season.
We had a sneaky suspicion that the tie might boil down to which of the pair’s respective striking assets would out shone the other, however the first encounter seen both players tweak their radars and boost their confidence levels with a goal-a-piece.
On the basis of Crawley under performing in the first encounter, surely common sense would prevail and Swindon should go on and clinch the tie now that they have home advantage to utilise. The Robins are a far better outfit at home according to their record in League One – winning 5 at the County Ground as opposed to the solitary 1 on their travels. Add into the equation the factors that they were the better team in the previous match and that their squad and starting XI is used to playing teams and players of better quality, of League One quality, on a weekly basis and we should have a fairly straightforward outcome. But this is the FA Cup, the competition which often rewards the brave and favours the less-fancied.
Because of the tradition of the FA Cup and what it means to all of the smaller clubs competing, bookies have run scared. Swindon are currently a very attractive price at the minute, a League One outfit up against a promising Conference side. But they’re probably right you know in that Tuesday night’s match will be no forgone conclusion even though we’re inclined to favour Danny Wilson’s Robins. The conditions will be bitterly cold; freezing, the majority of the pressure is now on Swindon now that they’re hosts while Crawley Town, while they may have a Conference tag hanging over them, are by no means mugs and proved that just under two weeks ago when grounding out a perhaps not thoroughly deserved 1-1 draw.
With home advantage Swindon are expected to take the game to Crawley, but this Crawley side are an accomplished outfit on the road having won just as many games on their travels domestically this season, not to mention the fact they’ve had to ground out successive winning results on the road in the earlier rounds. Of the 12 victories they’ve notched up down in the Conference, 6 of those were on the road while only two goals less have been scored by Crawley on their travels (League). If anything, the pitch should be better and Crawley will actually thrive off their underdog status, as so many sides of similar stature tend to do.
It’s difficult to argue with Swindon being the better of the two teams in terms of personnel, experience even, but this Crawley side has a lovely blend of old and young in their ranks, and if little guys can avoid pre-match nerves and fail to be intimidated by the occasion and overwhelmed by the cold conditions, we reckon a shock could very well be on the cards. However, we wouldn’t be all that comfortable opposing Swindon and instead reckon the odds on Both Teams Scoring are worth snapping up! It should be a thoroughly entertaining game between two sides who won’t be too worried about going the distance seeing as their matches over Christmas are likely to fall victim to the weather – Crawley’s weekend match with Wrxham was called off which could work in their favour as now they’ll be the fresher sets of legs.
Matt’s Selection(s):
Both Teams to Score – 1.80 SkyBet
Match Odds
Swindon Town – 1.80 Coral
Draw – 3.60 VCbet
Crawley Town – 5.00 Bet365
To Score at Anytime (Does not include Extra-Time and Penalties):
Charlie Austin (Swindon) – 2.20 Coral
Matt Tubbs (Crawley) – 3.50 Coral
