Crawley Town v Swindon Town preview: Reds' new era starts against Robins

It was announced on Sunday that Etherington would take over, following the departure of interim manager Lewis Young.

It’s a tough start for the new boss as his side face a Swindon side that always provide a tough test.

That being said Crawley tend to do well against The Robins, with just one defeat in the past 12 meetings between the sides.

Both sides had a break last week due to them being out of the FA Cup leaving both sides with just one win in their previous five games going into the fixture.

Scott Lindsey’s Swindon side do still sit in the final play-off place, 13 points clear of Crawley.

After a slow start which saw them pick up no wins in their opening four games Swindon picked up their form and have enjoyed a much better start to the season than Crawley.

But Crawley will come into the fixture as a bit unknown for Swindon due to the change of manager.

Etherington has been manager in Peterborough’s academy so there won’t be too much information on how Crawley are going to set up and play.

That may work in Etherington’s favour, as he looks to get off to winning ways at his new club and move The Red Devils higher up the table.

It’s no secret that WAGMI and the fans’ pre-season expectations haven’t been met so far this season and Etherington needs to get Crawley higher up the table, as there is a very talented squad at the club.

Etherington and his assistant Simon Davies have had a week on the training pitch to get the players adapted to their style and they’ll need to get going quickly as results are needed quickly for Crawley.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​