Crawley Town v Leyton Orient preview: Big chance for Reds to climb up the League Two table
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The Os travel to Crawley for the first time since they were relegated from League Two, with this fixture last season due to take place after the season was curtailed.
The fixture at the Breyer Group Stadium ended in a Crawley victory, with goals from Sam Matthews and Max Watters securing the Red Devils a 2-1 win in East London.
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Hide AdSince then, the two teams have remained in and around the play-off mix and continue to push for a place inside the play-offs. However, Orient’s inconsistent form has cost them so far, as they tend to go on a run of a few wins, followed by a run of a few losses.
They’ve lost their last two, having previously won their previous three before that. The Os have failed to score in their previous two and being without top scorer Danny Johnson has been a big blow to the Orient side.
On deadline day they bought in Tristan Abrahams to try and get back in amongst the goals and the striker could feature against Crawley on Tuesday. It is a strong Orient squad that have made good additions in January and will be looking to move towards a play-off spot but they will also know Crawley will move above them should they suffer defeat in West Sussex.
The Reds will come into the game looking to get back to winning ways, after their first defeat in eight league games on Saturday at Cambridge.
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Hide AdThe Reds put in a poor performance and seemed very rusty after what had been almost a month without a league fixture. Despite the performance Jake Hessenthaler’s goal was one of the best team goals Crawley have scored all season.
It was brilliant work from Matthews on the right-hand side who found Nichols and he sublimely back heeled it to Hessenthaler who buried it. It was the type of passing and movement that Crawley have been looking to do all season and if they can consistently play that football, they will fly up the League Two table.
Tuesday night is a big chance for Crawley to climb some places in League Two and put themselves nearer the play-off places with games in hand to catch up.