David Cameron Walker

Archive for the ‘Crawley Town’ Category

And we’re up!

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Whatever happens to Scott Neilson this summer, whether he’s offered a new contract or leaves, he will be forever remembered as the player who scored the goal that sent us up to League One.

Sixty-six tense minutes had passed – Accrington had had the better of the first half, with Scott Shearer making two or three excellent saves, whereas the first 20 of the second half had seen Crawley hit the bar twice and have a header cleared off the line. Just one goal would change everything. Another Crawley attack had been cleared – Kyle McFadzean controlled the ball, and with a swift swipe of his right foot the ball was launched forward towards the diminutive Scott Neilson – he found himself in a yard of space just inside in the Accrington penalty area, but was quickly closed down by the closest defender. No matter. He controlled the ball, his back to goal, shifted the ball onto his right foot and curled the ball past the keeper – the goal that we so desperately craved had come. The end of the ground housing the Crawley fans exploded; they knew this was the goal that would send Crawley to League One.

The remaining twenty-four minutes felt like hours, but the defence held steady. Anything that Accrington threw at Crawley, Crawley headed and hacked away – each clearance met with a sigh of relief from the Crawley faithful. Another clearance, another sigh of relief; the referee looked as his watch, raised the whistle to his lips and that was that – Crawley became a League One team. Fans streamed onto the pitch, and the players were mobbed. Eventually we retreated back onto the terrace, where the promotion party continued.

And whilst we have achieved our pre-season aim of getting promoted, it has to be said that the second half of the season has been pretty poor. Seven wins in 2012, and really we struggled over the line. Considering our position at the start of the year, we should have won the league, and had it not been for numerous points not being stupidly dropped, we would have. But we got promoted and at the end of the day, that was our aim.

Quality must be added to the squad if we are to be competitive in League One; another goalkeeper as cover for Scott Shearer, and perhaps another striker are top of the list – the striker preferably being in the mould of Matt Tubbs (ie. Gary Alexander with more pace). Or Matt Tubbs himself if he fancies it. Player contracts are another issue, and of course, the manager.

Personally I think that, assuming he wants the job, the board should offer it to Steve Coppell. His enthusiasm and passion is obviously still there, despite what he said when he left Bristol City, and I really can’t see the point of getting another person from outside- after all, he knows the players by now, he’s got a lot of managerial experience and from what I’ve heard likes to player attractive football- something which for much of this season has been lacking, but a style which we are best employed playing in my opinion. Apparently Ray Wilkins has thrown his hat into the ring (my word…), but the Crawley board, for all their faults (not mentioning the sale of the league’s most potent strike force), are generally quite sensible in their decision making and, thankfully, the appointment of Steve Coppell would seem to come under that headline.

But for now, we’ll just enjoy the promotion, and bask in the glory of being a League One team…

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

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The pies must be better up North…

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Today it was confirmed that Steve Evans has left Crawley to become manager of Rotherham, taking his ever-faithful lapdog, Paul Raynor, with him, with Craig Brewster put in temporary charge of Crawley. I can’t say I’m surprised, as the rumours have been gathering pace over the last 12 hours or so, but all the same I am disappointed….And annoyed.

The much malined Scot took over the reigns in 2007 and steered the club t0 Conference safety that same season, before stabilising the club and securing them as a steady Conference team the next season. In the 09-10 season, the club finished in 10th – a record high – and only just missed out on the play-offs. In the summer of 2010 Evans brought in 17 new players following a cash injection, with the aim being to get promoted from the Conference. The ambitious move saw Crawley hit the headlines, and the following season was to be a success- a 5th round FA Cup trip to Old Trafford was to be followed by promotion to the Football League with a record 105 points.

The club’s first season in the Football League was going well until Christmas – top of League Two and in the 4th round of the FA Cup. The club would reach the 5th round, but the title challenge faded into a struggle to get promoted, with just two wins in little under 3 months before the 3-2 defeat of Port Vale on March 17th. Many suspected that the sale of Tubbs and Barnett had prompted this run, but as I have said previously the run started a month before… his overall record with Crawley is as thus: 266 matches, won 126, drawn 68, lost 70, with a win percentage of 48%.

It seems an odd time to leave, what with six games left of the season, and promotion still on the cards. One can only assume that he wasn’t confident of promotion this season and thought that he had a better chance of being promoted with Rotherham next season. Evans never really endeared himself to the fans, even with getting us promoted etc. His character and refusal to acknowledge Wimbledon as rivals, as well as criticising the fans back in February didn’t exactly help either.

His style of football, no matter what he says, often left a lot to be desired and often frustrated fans when it was clear we were/are more effective when passing the ball rather than hoofing it up towards the forwards.

However, his ability in the transfer market is excellent, and even when you do have money to spend you have to spend it wisely- which he often did. There was the occasional blunder, but for every Willie Gibson there is a Matt Tubbs, for every Richard Brodie a Tyrone Barnett, and for every Steve Masterton a Dannie Bulman.

I find it difficult to label Evans a Crawley legend – perhaps because of his character, perhaps because of the fact that he’s left us at the time he has – but his achievements here at Crawley will always be remembered. From keeping us in the Conference, to taking us to Old Trafford, to promotion to League Two. Thank you for what you have done, Steve. Thank you.

As for who takes over, it is difficult to say. If Craig Brewster takes us up this season, then I think the job could and should go to him. Lee Clarke has been mentioned, and apparently was at the Crewe game 0n Saturday, but I think we’re too small a club to attract Clarke. However, I think Clarke would be an excellent appointment. Besides, I can’t think of anyone else.

Who we would be able to attract I think will depend on whether we get promoted or not, as many potential targets wouldn’t want to manage in League Two.

But at this point, with Evans only just gone, it’s all speculation. For now the focus must be promotion.

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

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Back on track

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

Since my last blog here, Crawley Town have played six matches and won four of them. They’re unbeaten in eight, and their last defeat was at home to Torquay on the 3rd of March. Things are definitely back on track, post match fights aside. The ”Battle of Valley Parade” could well be decisive as now three of Town’s four centre-backs are now unavailable and the team will be stretched defensively.

Who will play alongside John Dempster is anyone’s guess, because the club can’t bring anyone in on loan now and as far as I’m aware there aren’t any free agents out there. Sol Campbell doesn’t count. I can’t imagine Charlie Wassmer will be recalled from Dagenham and I’m not sure if the club can do so anyway. Perhaps a youth team or reserve player will get a chance to shine?

In recent games Crawley’s form has suddenly improved, with draws against Southend, Macclesfield – despite being two goals ahead with five minutes to go – and Aldershot, were followed by wins against Port Vale, Gillingham, Rotherham and Bradford, further followed by a 0-0 draw win Burton, a game in which Town arguably should have had two penalties.

It’s no coincidence that the arrival of Gary Alexander has coincided with the run of four wins in the last six since he joined, as without his five goals in those six Crawley would probably be out of the playoff places with the season all but over. His link up play with Billy Clarke has already proved to be dangerous and even Clarke has scored two since Alexander’s arrival, having failed to score since his January move from Blackpool, until the draw with Aldershot. Clarke is more of a creative force than goalscorer, so hopefully he will continue to provide Alexander with chances.

This coming Easter weekend will be a crucial time in the race for automatic promotion, and I strongly believe the top three after Monday’s games will be the three that get promoted. I also think that Crawley will need to take fourteen points from the remaining seven games if they are to win promotion.

Up first is Crewe on Good Friday. Alexandra will visit the Broadfield in a good run of form and will be confident of taking at least a point. Probably with good reason given Town’s first three centre backs are suspended. I’m actually not at all confident Crawley will get even a point, purely because of how shaky our defence might be, and I’m predicting the away side will prevail 3-2.

Easter Monday sees Steve Evans’ men visit Underhill to face relegation threatened Barnet, which is a game that fills me with more confidence, and I expect all three points to return home to Crawley, by a 3-1 scoreline. The following Saturday sees rivals Wimbledon visit the Broadfield in what will, I’m sure, be a fiesty encounter!

The loss of Matt Tubbs may be felt the most in this fixture more than any other for Crawley, as he had scored in every Crawley vs. Wimbledon game since he joined in 2010, so hopefully Gary Alexander steps up to the plate. It will be a tight game, where Crawley may just scrape it 3-2 as they never seem to keep clean sheets against the Dons.

The penultimate home game of the season will see the visit of Northampton Town on Tuesday the 17th. Whilst I think it will be a tight game, I can’t see Town dropping any points against the relegation threatened Cobblers, especially at home and I’m predicting a 3-1 victory.

Then comes a trip to another struggling side, Dagenham and Redbridge, who seem to have a rather deep hatred of Town, or at least Steve Evans. They seem to have picked up recently, but Crawley will be too strong for the relegation strugglers and will overcome this hurdle to win 2-0. Incidentally, this game is the earliest in which Crawley can achieve promotion, although realistically it won’t be.

In the final two games of the campaign, Hereford and Accrington Stanley provide the opponents. The Bulls are in poor form at the moment and I’m fairly confident Town will get the three points, especially as it is their last home game of the season. I think the scoreline could be 4-0. Bold, I know.

The last game of the season against Stanley is probably the one that will determine whether or not Crawley get promoted. The Reds will travel up to Lancashire to face a side who are fairly comfortable in League Two and will most likely have nothing to play for, so perhaps that will work into Town’s favour. The team should feel confident of a win there, and it could well be the win that sees them promoted. I predict a 2-0 success.

My predictions see Crawley collecting eighteen points between now and the final day of the season, which by my earlier statement will be enough to see Town go up. Now I’ve actually typed out those predictions, I’m starting to change my mind. My heart is saying Crawley won’t do it and my head is saying they will, but which one do I believe?

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

 

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Welcome, Gary Alexander

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

The last couple of months have been bleak for Crawley Town. Oh so bleak. With the exception of the side’s FA Cup exploits, nothing good has happened at all on the pitch, and when Matt Tubbs was sold a day before the closure of the January transfer window, two days after he scored that goal against Hull, it seemed to all it would derail the season further, but it didn’t at first.

Steve Evans moved to bring in Billy Clarke from Blackpool, who so far has done everything but score and looked like he was going to link up with Super Tyrone Barnett. Indeed, his debut against Cheltenham was the best debut I remember for a long time and believe me, there’s been  had a lot of Crawley debuts in the last 18 months or so. A lot.

But  just less than a month later the unthinkable happened. Tyrone Barnett was loaned to Peterborough with a permanent switch to happen in the summer, so just three weeks after losing talismanic top scorer Tubbs, the second top scorer was sold. It was inexplicable at the time and still is now – Crawley have not won a game since Barnett was sold, and only one since Tubbs left.

People will associate the current bad form with the loss of Tubbs and Barnett, but to be frank it all started on a cold Boxing Day against Gillingham.

The match started off quite normally- the two ends of the ground packed and making plenty of noise, then on 18 minutes a poor pass from Kyle McFadzean saw Claude Davis caught out by Joe Kuffour, who was brought down by the big Jamaican international. Davis saw red, and things weren’t going Town’s way.

But on 34 minutes, a free kick was pumped into the box and Kyle McFadzean threw himself at the ball, alas, only making contact with the right boot of Danny Kedwell. A pelanty was given, and Tubbs converted to make it 1-0. The second half began with Gillingham attacking down the right with a Chris Whelpdale cross being converted by Joe Kuffour, although how much he knew about it is dubious. Just two minutes later, and Kuffour scored again. Running into the area at Pablo Mills, he dummied to his left and sprinted to his right and sent a shot across a despairing Scott Shearer. 2-1, and little did the fans know, but that was to turn their side’s season around.

The match, despite a late surge by the men in Red, was to finish that way and whilst some say Tubbs and Barnett leaving was the catalyst for the poor run of form, the end of the influential Andy Drury’s loan spell earlier that week was, in my opinion, what did it. The midfielder really offered a creative option that was missing previously.

It’s now the 8th of March, and things have taken a turn for the worse. The fans have turned on the board and all hopes of promotion are quickly fading. The atmosphere at the club, once positive and jubilant, is now tense and pessimistic. Goals are coming at a premium, and wins even more so.

But since Billy Clarke has come in, that creativity has come back to the side. He initially linked up well with Barnett, but that partnership was broken when Peterborough came calling for SuperTy. Since then no one has been able to feed off Clarke’s craft.

However things may just be looking up. Today it was announced that Gary Alexander, a prolific striker throughout his career, would be joining initially on loan from Brentford before making the switch permanent in the summer. If the 32-year-old can get ten to fifteen goals before the season’s over then Crawley may well be back in the hunt for automatic promotion. It does seem the club have now got someone who can put those chances away, at last.

Things aren’t over yet, they never are at Crawley Town.

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

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Swing Low, Sweet Chariot….

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Rugby jokes aside, the visit of literal Premier League giants Stoke City in the FA Cup will be, without doubt, the biggest game to have been played at the Broadfield Stadium. Ever. It easily surpasses the third round visit of Derby County last year, as one might imagine.

As crazy as this may sound, I believe Crawley do have a half decent chance of getting a result. At home I think they can beat anyone, especially as Stoke are playing Valencia on the Thursday night and will probably rest players – meaning there’s a good chance Kenwyne Jones will, for the first time ever, come up against someone that’s more of a tank than him in big Claude Davis. Imagine Jones and Bayo Akinfenwa up front!

Stoke’s robust style will play right into Town’s hands, and Evans will have the players fired up and focused on the task in hand. Talking of hands, it’s absolutely devastating news that today it’s been found goalkeeper Scott Shearer requires knee surgery on an injury picked up against Cheltenham – he’ll be out for probably two months. The club haven’t revealed exactly what the injury is, and whatever it is it didn’t stop him walking around and being named on the bench for Tuesday’s game at Swindon.

All this means that Michel Kuipers had to start against Swindon – and whilst he didn’t cost Crawley the game, he was terrible. It’s a good thing Rene Gilmartin has been brought in from Watford on loan until the end of March. Whilst Town deserved nothing from the Swindon match, they could have taken something had Dean Howell’s effort gone in instead of bouncing off the bar and Crawley could have had three goals in the final five minutes of the first half. The referee technically should have sent himself off for denying Billy Clarke a goal scoring opportunity after Sanchez Watt was fouled as he played Clarke through – the referee initially gave an advantage, but then inexplicably pulled play back. In reality though, Crawley were poor.

Back to the Stoke encounter. It will be a record crowd and hopefully a fantastic atmosphere. I’ve no doubt the performance will improve drastically from Tuesday’s debacle, and hopefully the ESPN cameras will get what they came for – an upset.

New signings Billy Clarke and Karl Hawley are yet to make an impact in terms of goals, although Clarke impressed particuarly on his debut against Cheltenham, hitting the bar in an eye catching performance. Sanchez Watt, who arrived just two days before the fourth round tie against Hull, sparkled on his debut at the KC Stadium and was superb on his home debut against promotion rivals Cheltenham, scoring two goals and generally giving the visiting defence a torrid time.

I worry about Clarke’s ability to score goals however – he’s not been particularly prolific in his career and whilst he is still young  he seems to be more of a creative player who likes to drop off, rather than be an off-the-shoulder goal poacher. He’s linked up well with Sergio Torres and Sanchez Watt however and Steve Evans’ side are playing better football than when Tubbs was the focal point of the attack. Besides, who needs a Tubbs-esque goalscorer when Tyrone Barnett is scoring ridiculously good goals like his two against Cheltenham?

If Crawley are to be champions, the side need to prove they have a winning mentality by bouncing back from Tuesday’s defeat with a good performance against Stoke, and who knows, perhaps even a good result?

Que Sera, Sera…

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

 

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Away woes, sought after strikers and a trip to Hull…

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

I lamented our form over the Christmas period in my last blog, and it appears it’s not really improving anytime soon. Since the 3-0 win over Burton on December 10th, we’ve scored just 7 goals in 7 games – but why? When you’ve got arguably the most sought after strike partnership in the league, that should not be the case. This is also a problem when you concede 5 goals in that period, and win just two games. We’ve not won away from home in the league since the 5-2 win over Wimbledon on the 22nd of October – and since that game there’s been only one away game in all competitions where we’ve scored more than one goal; away to Bury in the FA Cup.

It’s a genuinely worrying stat that you might associate with a team in midtable, and funnily enough, that’s what our recent form’s been like. It’s not been helped by the fact that we’ve yet to play a league game at home during 2012, and our travels thus far have taken us to Oxford (1-1), Bristol Rovers (0-0), and Plymouth (1-1) – all games in which we should have won, but didn’t – and I think I know why. It’s simple. Against Oxford, we dominated and deserved to win the game but created very few clear cut chances – in fact, bar a John Akinde effort that flew just wide of the post, and excluding Super Tyrone Barnett’s superb equaliser, I don’t recall us actually creating any. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may well be something to do with Kyle Macfadzean’s switch into midfield, and the loss of Andy Drury, which has coincided with our poor form. We desperately need to replace Drury, because our midfield looks disjointed and lacking the fluidity that Drury brought, and it looks like Ipswich have decided to start playing him a year after buying him. To be honest, I have no idea who we’d replace him with, but Steve Evans’ scouting network is slightly more extensive than mine, which consists of Football Manager and FIFA, so I’d imagine that he’d at least try and replace him before the transfer window ends.

Talking of the transfer window, I’d really like this one to shut right now, or at least right after we replace Drury, because if reports are to be believed interest in Tyrone Barnett and Matt Tubbs is high – Blackpool actually agreed terms with Barnett but agent fees, I believe, stopped the deal from going through. They get a bad time of it, agents, but I quite like Barnett’s if he continously stops him from leaving. As for Tubbs, apparently we’ve rejected a bid from Bournemouth for 425k. It’s like Fabregas all over again – a young player leaves club, player flourishes, original club wants player back. But anyway – they are two players who are key to promotion this season, so the fact that the board/Evans accepted a bid for Barnett is concerning. Barnett is perhaps replaceable, but Tubbs is a different matter. There are very few strikers like him who we’d be able to attract, let alone in football. The fact that we’re rejecting bids which are probably the maximum a team will pay for him is reassuring though.

But anyway, enough about TnT (see what I did there?!), and onto the long, long, LONG trip up to Hull, and more specifically the KC Stadium. At least 1,500 Crawley fans will make the journey, which will be our best travelling support this season. 11 coaches – at least - will transport approximately 700 or so Reds fans up to Hull. Not quite the 27 odd coaches of last year’s trip to Old Trafford, but still impressive.

The game itself is the least optimistic I’ve felt going into a game where we’ve been underdogs in absolutely ages. I genuinely felt we had more chance at Old Trafford than we do on Saturday. Hull are doing well in the Championship, and, well, our form’s not great as of late. We’ve got a chance, certainly, but this is a Hull side playing well and Nicky Barmby, I’m sure, won’t let his players underestimate us. I wonder whether we’ll play them off the park, but lose 1-0 after hitting the bar in the dying minutes. Oh, wait…

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

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Twasn’t the season to be jolly….

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

In terms of football, this was a festive season to forget for most Crawley Town fans. Yielding just one win from four games, and even that was a scrappy win against lowly Barnet, the club went into Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie top of the league. How, only God knows.

Because Crawley were ridiculously unlucky – ironically, the one game they probably didn’t deserve to win was the one game they did win. A frustrating draw against Crewe saw Steve Evans’ side off to a below average start. It was a game that had half time come five minutes later, Town would have gone into the break 2-1 up and come home with all three points. But no. Matt Tubbs could have had a hat-trick in the first half, yet frustratingly the much sought after frontman only got one.

Crewe made themselves hard to break down in the second half, and even with ten men half chances were the extent of the rewards the enterprise of Sergio Torres yielded- and half chances, even with Tubbs on the pitch, weren’t enough. So Crawley came away from Crewe with a hard earned point, not realising potentially how crucial those two dropped points could prove to be.

Onto that fateful, bitter, Boxing Day clash with Gillingham at Fortress Broadfield, although I question the validity of the statement Fortress now. Walking up to the seemingly unbreachable fortress, I was anxious. I was nervous. It was something that I hadn’t experienced prior to a home game for a long, long time. As I walked along the stadium towards the turnstiles, I banished these unwelcome thoughts to the back of my head, and I became my usual optimistic self as I took my place in the terrace.

I’ve since learnt to trust my instinct. Crwaley started the game well, Dannie Bulman playing in a much more advanced and effective role, with the back four looking solid. That is, until Kyle McFadzean – playing in Bulman’s usual defensive midfield role – underhit his pass to Claude ‘The Tank’ Davis, who was forced to bring down Curtis Weston as he was through on goal. Davis, much to the delight of the Gillingham fans behind the goal, was promptly shown red.

A tank down, it seemed Crwaley were in for a long afternoon. The free kick, thankfully, came to nothing and Town coped with 10 men surprisingly well for the rest of the half, actually going into half time with a 1-0 lead. That man again, Tubbs scoring from the penalty spot. But our joy was short lived. Just 5 minutes into the first half, Gillingham went in front, somewhat fortuitously as a low cross from the right was not dealt with by Pablo Mills or McFadzean, and the ball bounced off the ridiculously quick Joe Kuffour’s knee for 1-1.

Two minutes later Kuffour recieved the ball on the right, unmarked by Dean Howell, before selling Mills a dummy with his left shoulder, bursting past him and curling a shot low past Shearer in goal. From then on, Crawley bombarded Gillingham with literally everything they had, and Tubbs had a goal-bound header cleared off the line with five minutes left. But for all the late pressure, Gillingham would leave the Broadfield with all three points, when you can question whether they deserved even one.

The New Year’s Eve fixture with Barnet saw Crawley return to winning ways, as an early Tyrone Barnett goal would prove to be enough, but the performance was not great.

621 Crawley fans made the journey to Oxford United for the Bank Holiday Monday fixture, wondering how the side didn’t come away from the Kassam with all three points. The game started as a scrappy affair, with neither midfield able to control the game. But after the intial 15 minutes or so Crawley began to take control, but were missing the injured Tubbs up front.

In the second period Oxford came back into it and took the lead when Shearer’s poor clearance deflected off Jon-Paul Pittman, ran towards goal where the striker gleefully slid it home at the near post – to his credit, he didn’t celebrate against his former club. After that, Crawley upped the tempo but still never really threatened Ryan Clark in the Oxford goal- that is, until a long ball from Mills just minutes before the final whistle was headed on by Davis to McFadzean, whose clever flick ran through to Barnett, who crashed the ball home from an angle to send Crawley home with a deserved point.

Five points from a possible twelve is not what the supporters asked for- but the club leaves the festive period where it began it, top of the table. If that was on offer before a ball was kicked against Crewe, we fans would have taken it.

Of course, the 1-0 FA Cup win over Championship Bristol City should get a mention, the win coming courtesy of Matt Tubbs’ well taken second half goal, and was generally thoroughly deserved. Bristol City offered little with Davis and Mills doing a superb job keeping Nicky Maynard quiet. If I was a certain Nigel Pearson, I’d spend my money on Billy Sharp instead.

Talking of Sharp, if he does leave Doncaster Rovers for Leicester, it’s reported that Dean Saunders will make a bid for Tubbs which hopefully does not happen. Monday’s game made it quite clear that the Crwaley attack has no real goal threat if Tubbs isn’t on the pitch. Tyrone Barnett’s got 13 goals this season, but Tubbs is a predatory goal machine as his 17 goals so far this campaign shows.

Regardless of that, Crawley are through to the 4th round of the FA Cup and sit top of League Two. I am, it’s fair to say, an extremely happy fan.

Que sera, sera…

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

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The Crawley Diaries: Welcome back Matt

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

They say a week is a long time in football. So six weeks on from that defeat to Morcambe and the undeserved 3-0 reversal at home to Swindon, Crawley Town find themselves flying so high they’re in danger of getting nosebleeds at the top of the table.

Even the most optimistic of Crawley fans couldn’t have foreseen this after those two results. But seven wins on things have never looked better and they can only keep getting better. Town’s performances haven’t always been completely convincing, for example against Shrewsbury there were times when the team could not string two passes together for love nor money and against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday in the first half they were very, very, shaky.

It’s no coincidence that this recent run of wins has coincided with a return to form for Matt Tubbs – five goals in the last five games reminiscent of the form last season – indeed, practically identical to his form last year. Two goals here, a goal here and there in the space of five matches was not uncommon. There were many people doubting his ability to replicate his phenomenal non league record, but thus far he’s proved them wrong and long may it continue. It will be surprising if no Championship clubs showed any interest in acquiring his signature come January. If Crawley are to lose their talismanic striker, then replacing him will be a massive challenge for Steve Evans and may prove nigh on impossible. He could go on to net upwards of thirty goals this season.

Just two years ago, if that, Crawley would have been forced to sell Tubbs for 50K, simply because the club could ill afford to not sell him. However now  big money bids for the side’s best players can be refused.

Strength in depth will be key for Evans’ side this season. If one player gets injured or suspended, a replacement is available to slot straight in, although the club have only just emerged from a bit of a defensive crisis in which Kyle MacFadzean, Pablo Mills, Dean Howell and John Dempster were all out injured.

So in came the Tank – more commonly known as centre-back Claude Davis – to plug the defensive gap along with on-loan Colchester defender Tom Eastman and they both did an excellent job, although Eastman has now gone back to his parent club.

Now Pablo Mills has returned, fans are left wondering what the future holds for Davis and whether he is still required. Once Dempster and Charlie Wassmer return from their loans there will be adequate cover in defence. All the same, signing Davis on a permanent deal would be a great signing and he could only add quality to the side, as he’s done so far.

Will Crawley win the league? It’s far too early to say. Can they win the league? Yes.

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town blogger

Louie tweets at @LouieElmer

 

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Back down to Earth with a bump

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Ouch. That hurt. Oh sure, it’s funny for the rest of you, seeing ”Creepy Crawley” lose 3-1 to the ‘real’ CTFC (which doesn’t even make sense). But for Crawley fans, that hurt. Not since the 16th of October 2010 have we lost (incidentally, Newport stuck 3 past us that day as well). Something completely mental like 34 league games unbeaten; like Kolo Toure of the Invincibles said (sorry to drag Arsenal into this) – ”We’d forgotten what it was like to lose”. But it was inevitable, I guess. We couldn’t go forever without losing. So now that we’ve got that customary defeat out of our system we can, hopefully, kick on and bounce back – firstly at Southend in the Johnston’s Paint Trophy (fairly convinced I’ve not spelt that right), and then against Bristol Rovers at Fortress Broadfield on Saturday. Maybe it was the ”You aren’t actually invincible and at one point you are going to lose” wake up call this team needed, and to be fair we woke up in that second half judging by the numerous tweets I was relying on for updates. I’m not for a minute suggesting we were naive in that first half (although we probably were), but it did sound like we went up to Cheltenham thinking ”Oh, well, if we just turn up we’ll win”. So maybe in the long term this defeat may prove somewhat positive. Fair play to Cheltenham for completely hammering, drubbing and pulverising us in that first half, but the second half was more positive from a Crawley perspective – at least we fought back and, judging by said tweets, looked a lot better.

We’ve picked up an average of 2 points per game, which at the end of the season would see us on a healthy 92 points…but on the flipside we’ve already dropped 5 points and that does look quite bad on paper. They were sloppy points as well – we should never have conceded that injury time equliser at Vale Park, and Saturday’s defeat seemed depressingly sloppy performance wise.

And the most worrying aspect is this isn’t the first time we’ve had a poor first half and have had to pull ourselves together in the second half – I know we beat Southend quite convincingly in the end (3-0 for those of you unaware of the score), but in that first half we were worryingly sloppy and it was only some good last ditch defending that prevented something similar to  Saturday happening. Indeed, on another day Southend could have gone into half time with a 3-0 lead, a la Cheltenham.

On a more positive note, we breezed past Macclesfield 2-0 and soundly beat Torquay 3-1, indicating that we’re more than capable of a promotion push. At our best we’re second to none, but we very, very, rarely hit top gear, as was the case last season. Maybe it was because we rarely needed to be on top form last season, but this is a step up and I think we’ll turn in too many average performances against teams better than what we might be used to playing against to win the league this year. And that, for me, will be the real challenge for Steve Evans. Can he get the team to make the step up and turn in consistently good performances this season? Because, for me, our dogged determination and solid defence won us the league last year, more than anything. Yes, we were good, and even scintillating at times, but our Manurechester Utd-esque tendecy to nick a point when we should have lost and grab a win when we didn’t deserve it really won us the league. And it’s whether we can replicate that this season that will determine where we finish.

But sadly I can’t see us stepping up against the teams around us- last season, against the other title contenders, Wimbledon and Luton, we stepped up and delivered (I’m ignoring that 2-1 defeat away to Wimbledon). The aforementioned and extremely painful loss to Wimbledon being the only time we lost against either of the two. This season will be a lot harder and whilst I stand by my prediction of 2nd, I can’t see us winning the league.

And with Crystal Palace AND Charlton Athletic interested in star striker Matt Tubbs (apparently), this week could be about to get a whole lot worse for Crawley.

Pessimistic, I know. So I’m going to be optimistic for the rest of this blog. To be fair, I can’t see Evans selling Tubbs this late in the transfer window. I think we’ll sell him in January to be honest, as that would be the last chance to get any money for him with his contract running out at the end of the season, especially with our annoying tendency to not sort out a players contract until AFTER it’s run out. No, still pessimistic..

OK. Optimism. Hope Akpan and Charlie Wassmer look like really good players and are still only 19 I think. I’m going to stick my neck out and say Hope Akpan is one of the best midfielders in the league. To be honest, Wassmer’s defensively as good as Pablo Mills but Mills leads the defence/the whole team a lot beter, so I’d probably go for Mills over Wassmer – but give him time and Wassmer will be a lot better than Mills. Mills is a born leader in my opinion – Tony Adams style, almost.

And the regular comparisons with Patrick Vieira that Akpan is drawing seem more than justified – tough tackling, tall, gangly, fond of a driving run forward. So the future, you could say, is bright. Assuming we keep hold of key players.

I’d still like us to bring in another winger, but with the formation we play (4-4(diamond)-2) , it’s really, really unlikely. But whatever. If, come 11pm on Wednesday, this current squad is what we’re left with I’ll be happy. For now, I’m just going to enjoy League Two…

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town Blogger

Louie tweets @lelmerCTFC

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The Crawley Diaries: Season Aspirations

Friday, August 5th, 2011

As a young Arsenal & Crawley fan, I can’t really remember success for either of my beloved teams – bar the 2005 FA Cup Final. So with this in mind last year was probably the best year of my football supporting life. Such a season’s highlights would include beating Derby in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, setting up a trip to Torquay who we would beat to set up another highlight – Manchester United in the 5th Round.

But neither of them can trump the long-awaited wrapping up of the league title away to Tamworth. It was a glorious day, which appeared to be a good omen, and I didn’t even mind being woken up at 8am on a Saturday, such was the day in store. My attire probably wasn’t suited to the weather- long sleeved commemorative Crawley shirt from the 5th round of the FA Cup, jeans, and scarf. And whilst I was uncomfortably hot for much of the match, I didn’t really care too much. Because Crawley were going up. When that final whistle blew, confirming our status as a Football League side after goals from Matt Tubbs (2) and Charlie Wassmer, we went, in a word, mental. Sure, clinching promotion against Luton would have been sweeter, but you won’t catch any of us complaining (other than my dad). It capped a fantastic season, one that I’m going to bear in mind as I try to predict, with as minimal bias as possible, what this season will throw at Crawley.

I’m going to be honest – I think we can get automatic promotion. Yes, League Two will be extremely difficult to call this year, but with the players we possess and the backroom staff at our disposal, promotion is very much achievable. Another thing to consider is that this club, even last season, was being prepared for a League Two promotion push. And yes, that sounds horribly naïve, but it shows the faith that was placed in the management team and the players by the board. They could easily have sanctioned the sales of key players, even while they knew this was against the wishes of manager Steve Evans, but they chose not to – another demonstration of the faith placed in the management team and players. But before the infamous cash injection of last summer, the board seriously considered making the club part time, but to the relief of many Crawley fans they decided against it. At that point, especially after we’d barely missed out on the playoffs with a patched up squad, if you’d have told us what the outcome of the season just gone was to be we would have laughed you out of West Sussex, all the way up the M23, round the M25, onto the M1 and into Luton. We’d then proceed to laugh you further up the M1 into Milton Keynes, after the disastrous start we made to the campaign, taking one point out of the first possible six with a 1-0 defeat at home to Grimsby and letting slip a 2 goal lead away at Cambridge to draw 2-2.

One of the keys to any kind of success this season will be the strength in depth we have (helped, to the despair of many, by the cash injection). We’ve good quality cover for every position, which is vital when it comes to squad rotation. Also, the team spirit that so captivates Steve Evans in seemingly every one of his interviews will no doubt help. But the real key, and no doubt the one that will come under the most scrutiny during the coming season, is the talismanic Matt Tubbs. With forty goals in all competitions last year, and no doubt wanting to emulate that this year, he’s a vital part of the Crawley side. At the Broadfield last season there was almost a sense that the only real outlet for goals was Tubbs, which, whilst it speaks volumes about his ability, could have been a problem if he had got seriously injured. However, that isn’t to say that no-one else chipped in, as the second top scorer was the now departed Craig MacAlister, with 14 goals. Crawley fans now breath a little easier, as this problem has now been somewhat rectified by the arrival of Wesley Thomas from Cheltenham and Tyrone Barnet from Macclesfield – Barnett notched an impressive 13 for a struggling Macclesfield side, whilst Thomas netting 19 for Cheltenham last term. But that will only go some way to alleviating the goal scoring concerns – for they still linger. The absence of Tubbs, as I suppose is the case with any talisman, at any point during the season is still feared greatly I suspect – his ability in front of goal is phenomenal, but his workrate and close control also mark him out.

Another standout player from last season was the aforementioned Kyle McFadzean. The 23-year-old centre half’s emergence into the starting line-up came after both Danny Hall and Adam Quinn, regulars at the start of the season, were dropped – leaving Pablo Mills to drop back from midfield into defence, and McFadzean to play alongside him. Since then, the Crawley defence has looked notably more assured, with the foraging runs of left back Dean Howell, and the steady but effective build up play with David Hunt on the right, providing another attacking outlet (which, admittedly, isn’t always effective, as you’ll read later on).

But it really was McFadzean who stole the defensive limelight last year, with numerous outstanding displays, all of which are all the more remarkable when you note that he was signed from then Conference North side Alfreton Town for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be £100,000.

That said, take nothing away from captain Pablo Mills, who’s inspired performances last year, coupled with his leadership, helped make the Crawley defence the most formidable in the league – a stat backed up when you read that Crawley lost just three times last year, merely one of them being away. Further backed with an even more impressive stat - Crawley went on an incredible 30 game unbeaten run in the league, stretching from the 16th October against Newport County, to the last day of the season against York City.

In terms of performances, what you can expect is a very solid Crawley team that relies on the wingers to provide flair and chances – which can be frustrating, as very often that leads to creating very few clear cut chances. Sadly, this renders us fairly easy to defend against, and long periods of us probing the opposition defence were fairly common last year- especially against weaker teams.

But when this style of play is employed, I’d say you have to have 3 things. 3 things that we seem to have. The first being that you have to have a good level of quality throughout your side, otherwise you might as well pack up and go home (having said that, surely if such quality was available you’d be better off playing a different style of football altogether?). Secondly, you need that one player who can unlock the defence, whether it be through a slide rule pass, a jaw dropping, leg tangling piece of skill, or simply an off the ball run. And for me Crawley have two of those. One being Sergio Torres, who in my opinion can pick out a pass better than anyone else in the Crawley squad. And the other being, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, winger Scott Neilson. He’s a very direct winger, not afraid to take a player on, and he uses the ball a lot better than Howell on the opposite flank, and even when it doesn’t come off, he nearly always looks far more dangerous than Howell.

At this point, you may be confused as to why I said Howell and not Torres – what I haven’t mentioned is that Torres, whilst he plays on the left, doesn’t actually play as an orthodox left sided winger (probably because he’s right footed). This means that Howell pegs it up the left flank, generally as Torres has passed it inside, before the ball works its way out to him. He’ll then attempt a ridiculously early cross whilst no one is actually in a position to receive and do anything with it, and it goes out of play. And that is why, most of the time, we fail to create clear-cut chances. With Neilson, on the other hand, we always look more like actually creating something- this is possibly why I favour him over the high profile Willie Gibson. Gibson, incidentally, whilst I think he is a good player, just hasn’t settled in properly since his January move, and until he does so (which I think he will now his partner has moved down from Scotland to live with him), I’ll continue to rate Neilson higher than him. And I think another problem with our lack of creativity is that our passing isn’t fluent enough to really carve teams open.. I think if only we upped the tempo slightly, teams really would struggle to defend against us.

Honestly? You can expect to do at least fairly well against us providing you’re a well organised, defensively sound side. And whilst we will probably break you down eventually, as was the case a large number of times last season, that won’t really matter if you can break us down better. Easier said than done, mind.

Written by Louie Elmer, We Are Going Up’s Crawley Town Blogger

Louie tweets @lelmerCTFC

 

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