Barrow v Crawley Town preview: Reds look to snap losing streak in Cumbria

Crawley come into the fixture in a poor run of form. They are on a run of four straight defeats in League Two and have suffered losses against Tranmere and Southampton Under-21s in cup games.

Their opponents are also struggling for league form. They haven’t won any of their previous six league games. However, they have picked up wins in cup games against Banbury United and Leicester City under-21s.

Both these teams have been slipping down the table but coming up against an out of form team might be what both sides need.

Last weekend the Bluebirds travelled to Brunton Park, the home of Carlisle, for a Cumbrian derby. They managed to get a point as the sides played out a goalless draw.

That was Barrow’s seventh draw of the season. Although they haven’t won too many games this season, they also haven’t been losing many.

Crawley are the perfect example of this. They sit four places and two points below Barrow despite winning more games than them this season.

It’s the eight losses which have held Crawley back, with only Oldham losing more League Two games this season.

The Reds need to find their way back into form over all areas of the pitch with the defence leaking goals and the goals drying up.

Kwesi Appiah has been the bright spark in the Reds side during this poor run, with no other Crawley player scoring a goal since September.

Appiah’s good run of form has seen him score five in his last seven appearances as he has looked excellent.

The form guide does make Crawley look worse than they could be credited for. They were unlucky to not get anything from the FA Cup game against Tranmere.

They dominated the second half but couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.

Red cards against Port Vale and Exeter have also come back to haunt the Reds. It looks like they could’ve managed different results with 11 men on the pitch.

Both sides will see this as a good opportunity to claim some much needed points. Crawley will look to leapfrog Barrow in the table with a win but any other result is enough to keep the Bluebirds ahead of the Reds.