Crawley Town v Salford City preview: Can Reds upset Class of '92-owned title favourites?

Midweek delivers Crawley Town’s second game of the league campaign, as they host the pre-season title favourites Salford City.
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The Red Devils have had a week break after their dramatic Carabao Cup exit to League One Gillingham as their game against Harrogate was postponed due to Covid cases in the Harrogate camp.

The break might’ve helped Crawley, following a disappointing start to the season with defeat at the hands of Hartlepool on the opening day. Despite the poor result and performance on the opening day; there was encouraging signs despite defeat to Gillingham for Crawley, with them being very unlucky to lose to their League One opponents.

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Co-owner Gary Neville stated that Salford have tried to be more ‘measured’ with their signings this campaign as they look for the right fits for the squad.Co-owner Gary Neville stated that Salford have tried to be more ‘measured’ with their signings this campaign as they look for the right fits for the squad.
Co-owner Gary Neville stated that Salford have tried to be more ‘measured’ with their signings this campaign as they look for the right fits for the squad.

For the majority of the game, they were the better side and pushed Gillingham to a penalty shootout, which was always going to be a lottery. That performance should provide Crawley some confidence heading into the game against Salford, who the Reds do have a good record against.

In four attempts Salford have never beaten Crawley, with there being two Crawley wins and two draws between the two sides. The two wins have come at The People’s Pension Stadium, where Crawley won 2-0 and 1-0 and there have been 0-0 and 1-1 draws at The Peninsula Stadium. Tom Nichols clinched the goal in the 1-0 win last season against The Ammies but he may not be available for the Reds as he has been carrying an injury, which has kept him out of the opening two competitive fixtures. This could give a chance for new signing Kwesi Appiah to make his Crawley debut, having signed for the club on Monday. Appiah looks like a good edition up front, who has done well at League Two level before with Cambridge United.

If selected Appiah will be thrown in at the deep end against a very strong Salford squad, who will certainly be looking for third time lucky in terms of getting promotion from League Two. Salford are known for spending big and making big signings, as they have done again this summer bringing in the likes of Conor McAleny, Josh Morris, Matthew Lund and Liam Shephard.

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The Class of 92 have once again invested heavily into Salford’s transfer budget and are looking to gain promotion this season. Co-owner Gary Neville stated that Salford have tried to be more ‘measured’ with their signings this campaign as they look for the right fits for the squad.

Their campaign has started ok with three draws from their opening three games in all competitions. In the league they’ve had a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient and a 0-0 draw with Sutton. They also got a 3-3 draw with Championship Derby and were unfortunate to lose on penalties.

This shows what a tough test it’ll be for Crawley but they’ll want to pick up their first points of the season soon so that confidence doesn’t dip.

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