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Crawley away preview

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Crawley away preview

Postby Sweden Stag » Thu Oct 20, 2022 5:27 pm

Four away wins on the trot. Unbeaten in the last seven League Two fixtures. This is the Stags record before traveling to Crawley this weekend. And Crawley are one out of six League Two sides to have got rid of the boss they started this season with. And another managerial change somewhere will be noted in one forthcoming game preview.

Last season, a record-breaking run started at Crawley. It was to be a run of eight consecutive EFL victories, a run which catapulted the Stags from lower mid-table into the playoff positions. And it was to a 2-1 scoreline last November. And late on that season, the double was done as the Stags comfortably ran out 2-0 winners at home.

The 2020-21 season fixtures had goals in added time all over them. At One Call, the Stags managed a dramatic injury-time equalizer to a 3-3 scoreline. And at Crawley, the Stags lost by the only goal of the game in added time.

During the first three of the Stags’ five seasons in the Conf, they faced Crawley with Steve Evans in their hot seat.

And incidentally, Steve Evans’ first game as Stags boss following the resignation of Adam Murray was the home fixture against Crawley four years ago when they on November 19, 2016 succumbed to a three-goal blitz inside ten minutes of the second half.

But Steve Evans bossed Crawley in all their Conference games against the Stags some time ago.

Among them was the very first game between the sides at Mansfield on January 17, 2009, a game which saw Steve Evans in the Crawley dug-out against a Stags boss who was to manage his first Stags fixture. Boss then: David Holdsworth, who saw a Rob Duffy wonder strike seal the game in the Stags’ favour. Evans was also Crawley boss in the first-ever game between the sides at Crawley in September 2008. Stags boss at Crawley then: the late Billy McEwan.

Incidentally enough, Mr Holdsworth’s final Stags league fixture was also against Crawley who were streets ahead of their then BSP rivals and showed why by winning 4-1 at Mansfield on October 30, 2010. Those four goals scored by Crawley were the only ones they had ever scored at Mansfield before the first game for Steve Evans as Stags boss.That win is so the only Crawley three-pointer ever at One Call, although they went very close to their second one in the corresponding fixture last campaign.

In between, Dave Holdsworth oversaw a 4-0 rout against the outfit managed by Steve Evans on the opening day of the 2009-10 season, August 8, 2009.

But this is not the worst rout Steve Evans endured in the opposition dug-out against the Stags. During the Boston FL days, the Boston Pilgrims were routed big style at Field Mill on March 11, 2006, to a 5-0 scoreline which made Mr Evans cut out the Sunday break for his side.

A little more than seven years ago, the Stags inflicted the second 4-0 demolition on Crawley of all time. On September 12, 2015, this was also the Stags’ first home victory that campaign.

That same campaign, Crawley were back in League Two after three seasons at League One level, having gone straight through League Two after their runaway BSP victory in the 2010-11 season.

That season also saw a recent Stags goalie play against the Stags for Crawley on March 29, 2011, when a depleted Stags side, just three subs, lost to a 2-0 scoreline down South.

Crawley were to be one of several sides being promoted to the EFL from the current National League to go straight through to the current League One (others include Stevenage, Macclesfield, Wycombe) in their debut EFL season. In 2011-12, Crawley finished in third position by beating Accrington by the only goal of the game on the final day of that season.

Three seasons in League One followed, best position tenth in 2012-13. That season, ex-Stag Richie Barker was Crawley manager all that term up to November 2013, when he was replaced by John Gregory.

Although the Stags before the 2008-09 campaign never did face Crawley in any competition, a couple of players have appeared for both sides. Here they are (details on some are listed below):

Nicky Ajose, Philip Barber, Graham Brown, Daryl Clare, David Coles, John Dempster, Gavin Hurren, Brian Jensen, Ray Keeley, Jefferson Louis, Gary Mills, Jeffrey Monakana, Ollie Palmer, Lewis Price, Jamie Sendles-White, Jon Shaw, Scott Shearer, Emile Sinclair, Tyrone Thompson, Adi Yussuf.

* Philip Barber. A loanee from Bristol City, who figured in Crystal Palace's FA Cup finals team of 1989-90. Phil scored once for the Stags, in a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe on December 9, 1995. He finished his career at Crawley around 1997.

* Graham Brown. Came to us from Crawley in the season after our FA Cup QF run, and despite competition from Dave Hollins and Rod Arnold yet kept the Stags goal 143 times in the League, the first a 1-0 home win against Gillingham on August 9, 1969, the last in a 1-4 defeat at Crystal Palace on November 29, 1975. Brown also kept Blackpool at bay in the FA Cup fourth round on January 24, 1970, and was also the custodian in the fifth round tie at Leeds' Elland Road a fortnight later.

* David Coles. Another goalie who played just three Division Four games (all drawn) for the Stags in April 1983 before going south to Aldershot but did not keep goal there in the season in which the Shots folded (1991-92, details checked). Had a short spell at Crawley before joining Yeovil.

* Ray Keeley. Came to us from Crawley in June 1968 and made his Stags league debut at Brighton in a 2-1 victory on August 10, 1968, then the Stags first-ever points haul at the Seagulls' nest. Keeley's first Stags league goals came when he scored both in a 2-3 defeat at Southport on October 7, 1968, and became a legend when scoring the second goal in the famous FA Cup fifth round demolition of West Ham on February 26, 1969. But before that, Keeley had scored two FA Cup goals, one in the 4-1 home win over Tow Law, one in a 2-2 draw at Rotherham on December 7, 1968. Keeley's final Stags league goal came in a 2-1 win at Halifax on October 25, 1969, and his final Stags league appearance came in the 1-0 victory at Bradford City on April 22, 1970 in the Stags' final league game that campaign.

* Jefferson Louis. Much-travelled striker who played for us in the 2007-08 campaign, came from Weymouth, scored our 90th minute winner at Wycombe in February 2008 in front of the previewer, was then Wrexham's top scorer. Has figured in several previews during the last decade and has played for loads of clubs during his career. He played for Crawley in the 4-0 rout on the opening day of the 2009-10 campaign.

* Gary Mills. Came to the Stags from Stevenage, did also play for Forest Green. Played some twenty games for Crawley in 2006-07 sandwiched in between two spells at Rushden & Diamonds.

* Tyrone Thompson. Came to Crawley from Halifax in 2007, played 44 games for the Red Devils in the 2007-08 campaign, later transferred to Torquay before joining the Stags.

More recently, Brian Jensen, Lewis Price and Mitchell Rose have played for both sides as well as Ollie Palmer, scorer of the Stags’ first FL goal back in the League at Wycombe in August 2013. Jeffrey Monakana and Emile Sinclair are yet two other players having appeared for both sides, as did Scott Shearer. Out of the players having appeared for both sides over the years, five are goalies: Graham Brown, David Coles, Brian Jensen, Scott Shearer and Lewis Price.

During the 2019-20 season, two ex-Stags played for Crawley. One was Ollie Palmer. The other was Jamie Sendles-White, last season at Aldershot and Maidenhead in Conf National, now at Welling, a former Conf National side now in Conf South.. Five different Stags bosses have managed League Two home fixtures against Crawley, namely Murray, Evans, Flitcroft and Dempster before Nigel Clough became the fifth one last December. Graham Coughlan was never to manage a home fixture against the Red Devils as the 2019-20 home game belonged to the ones which were cancelled.

The Stags boss when we were unlucky to lose away at Crawley in September 2019, John Dempster, managed during the 2010-11 campaign to play twice against the Stags for Kettering before even representing either the Stags or Crawley. He left Kettering for Crawley in January 2011, but did not play against the Stags two months later. The following campaign, Dempster played in Crawley’s first-ever FL game, a 2-2 draw at Port Vale and a few more before returning to Kettering for a short loan spell. After that spell, Dempster was initially loaned out to the Stags and made his Stags debut as a player in a 1-1 draw at Bath City on November 26, 2011, and played a dozen games before returning to Crawley for a few games at the end of the 2011-12 season. Then, Dempster played a major part in the Stags side which returned to League Two in April 2013, also playing a few fixtures for Tamworth on loan from the Stags early on that 2012-13 campaign.

Managed both sides: Steve Evans.

So far this season, Crawley have disappointed and are languishing around the trap-door while the Stags are in the playoff zone. Elsewhere, it will be the first Gillingham v Barrow fixture for half a century, the first one between those sides since the 1971-72 Division Four campaign.

Previous league fixtures:

Home: P 9, W 6, D 2, L 1, GF 20, GA 9
Away: P 10, W 3, D 2, L 5, GF 8, GA 11

Season Home Date Away Date

2008-09 1-0 2009-01-17 1-2 2008-09-13 BSP
2009-10 4-0 2009-08-08 2-0 2009-11-14 BSP
2010-11 1-4 2010-10-30 0-2 2011-03-29 BSP
2015-16 4-0 2015-09-12 1-0 2016-01-30 League Two
2016-17 3-1 2016-11-19 2-2 2017-05-06 League Two
2017-18 1-1 2018-05-05 0-2 2017-12-09 League Two
2018-19 1-0 2019-01-15 0-0 2019-03-12 League Two
2019-20 home not played 0-1 2019-09-14 League Two
2020-21 3-3 2020-12-05 0-1 2021-03-13 League Two
2021-22 2-0 2022-04-23 2-1 2021-11-27 League Two

The Stags have scored in every home fixture against Crawley in preview history but did not score at Crawley between the final day of the 2016-17 season and last season’s away fixture there. Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
Sweden Stag
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