Crawley Town v Bristol Rovers preview: Will Reds have much-needed striker boost ahead of Pirates clash?

The Gas have been revived in the second half of the season and have had a spectacular run of form to put them into the play-off picture, following a slow start to the season.

Joey Barton’s men have lost just one of their last seven games, picking up four wins and two draws in that time.

Their opponents Crawley can go one better, losing just one in their last eight games, although they have picked up just three wins.

See also Crawley Town forward Tom Nichols has been nominated for the PFA Vertu Motors Fans' Player of the Month award for February.

It’s two sides who haven’t lost many games since the start of 2022 going head-to-head in what looks like a close encounter on paper.

Both teams are looking to bounce back from poor results with Bristol Rovers losing 1-0 to Newport County last time out and Crawley drawing 0-0 with Scunthorpe.

There are players who have played for Crawley in Rovers’ squad with Harry Anderson spending time in Crawley’s youth team before it was disbanded and striker Leon Clarke also played for Crawley but only four times in a loan spell.

Crawley also have some ex-Bristol Rovers players in their squad too, with Tony Craig and Tom Nichols being former Rovers players.

The Red devils do tend to struggle against Bristol Rovers, only winning two of the previous 10 fixtures and none of the last five. The reverse fixture ended in a 1-0 defeat for the Reds, with former player Leon Clarke bagging the only goal of the game.

Crawley had plenty of chances that day but couldn’t put the ball in the net, a similar story to the one on Saturday.

Without Tom Nichols Crawley looked like they lacked a forward presence and while Ashley Nadesan and Isaac Hutchinson done well, they lacked support going forward.

With Kwesi Appiah warming up with the team there is hope that he may be back soon as he remains the club's top scorer. One of him or Nichols being back would be a much-needed boost for the Reds going forward, who miss their presence when neither are on the pitch.

However, as we’ve seen so often this season with Crawley it is impossible to predict what is going to happen on Tuesday night but hopefully it will provide some more goals and entertainment than the game against Scunthorpe.

See also Revealed: The dirtiest teams in League Two, the club yet to get a red card all season and where Crawley Town, Northampton Town, Swindon Town and Leyton Orient rank | Crawley Town player ratings - Reds fail in front of goal but keep clean sheet

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