Crawley Town v Northampton Town preview: Reds look to rectify Forest Green defeat at home to Cobblers

The Red Devils had a horrendous time in the second half at The New Lawn last weekend after a good first half where they competed very well and deservedly had themselves level at the break at 2-2.

However, all their good work was undone in the second half, as they collapsed, conceding four before Kwesi Appiah got a consolation to make it 6-3.

However, back in front of the home crowd Crawley should feel like they can bounce back as Crawley’s home form is typically good.

The Reds’ 2-1 win over Salford at The People’s Pension was a statement of intent of how they can beat any team, especially at home, as a good second half performance wrapped up victory.

They’ll look to replicate this against Northampton, with the sides head to head record being very even.

However, the last time the sides met Crawley smashed their visitors 4-0 in a season which ended in promotion for Northampton.

Since then, Northampton have gone up to League One and come back down to League Two and have started well this season.

The Cobblers have won two and lost one of their opening three league games, with the defeat coming last Saturday to Rochdale.

It wasn’t only their first defeat but also the first time they had conceded in the league this season, keeping clean sheets against Colchester and Port Vale in their opening two games.

However, at the other end of the pitch it hasn’t been amazing, with just three goals scored, none of which coming from open play.

It shows the threat Northampton will pose Crawley from set pieces and need to defend better than they did last weekend.

Neither team has had a draw yet this season but with two tightly matched teams anything could happen in a game that will be very difficult to predict.