Northampton Town v Crawley Town preview: Reds look to continue bright start to the year

The year started off brightly for Crawley with a convincing 3-1 home win over Colchester United on New Year’s Day.

The same can’t be said about Northampton who had a torrid time at Swindon, losing 5-2 after taking a 2-1 lead. The Cobblers took the lead on 50 minutes but conceded four in 15 minutes.

It’s unusual for Northampton to defend that poorly as they have one of the best defensive records in the league. Only Forest Green Rovers, Salford City, Leyton Orient and Tranmere Rovers have conceded less this season.

The Cobblers have made their home ground a fortress this season with just two losses in their 10 league games at Sixfields.

This won’t worry Crawley as they have already picked up some impressive wins on the road this season. Their most recent being the impressive 2-1 win at Leyton Orient in December.

The change in system, to three centre backs was seen again on New Year’s Day. Crawley play very well using this system, so it may be something that is used again.

It's allowed for strikers Tom Nichols, Kwesi Appiah and Ashley Nadesan to start games and they’ve all been impressive going forward and got their rewards for good performances.

Nadesan’s brace on New Year’s Day saw his forward partners get the assists, with Nichols getting the first and Appiah getting the second.

If the three continue to link up as they have been then they can cause a threat to anyone in the division and Northampton will be in for a tough test on Saturday.