Preview | Crawley Town (A)

24 March 2023

Crawley Town vs Rochdale | Sky Bet League Two, Saturday 25th March 2023, Broadfield Stadium, 3pm Kick-Off

Dale travel to Crawley Town in a crunch Sky Bet League Two tie on Saturday.

Jim Bentley's men are currently seven points behind 22nd place Crawley, who also have a game in hand.

The Red Devils have picked up seven points from their last three matches, most recently drawing 1-1 with Doncaster Rovers in midweek.

Dale have lost just once in the last four, earning a point last time out in a 4-4 draw at home to Swindon Town on Saturday.

The reverse fixture between the sides ended in a 1-1 draw at the Crown Oil Arena in August.

ADMISSION DETAILS

Tickets for the game are just £2! Supporters can pay on the day.

Click HERE for full details.

PRE-MATCH INTERVIEW

Jim Bentley and Max Taylor spoke to the press ahead of the game.

Watch their interviews in full on our official YouTube channel HERE.

Read some what the gaffer had to say HERE and Max HERE.

BROADFIELD STADIUM

Click HERE for a visitors' guide to the Broadfield Stadium.

REF WATCH

Referee | Sam Purkiss
Assistant Referees | Alex James and Mark Derrien
Fourth Official | Andrew Laver

HEAD TO HEAD

Crawley	Draw	Dale
2	1	2

Take a look back at some of our more recent meetings with our We've Met Before feature HERE.

WE’VE GOT IT COVERED

Watch Saturday's game live on iFollow!

Fans in the UK & Ireland, as well as those overseas, can watch the full 90 minutes from home.

Click HERE to purchase your match pass now. Commentary gets underway at 2.50pm.

Match Previews

Match Reports

Report | Crawley Town 2-0 Dale

25 March 2023

Dale suffered a 2-0 defeat at Crawley Town in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday.

First-half goals from Dom Telford and Dion Conroy condemned Dale to defeat, leaving them ten points behind their opponents.

Jim Bentley made two changes from the side that started last weekend’s 4-4 draw with Swindon Town.

Devante Rodney and Scott Quigley were both ruled out through injury, with Ian Henderson and D’Mani Mellor replacing them. Youth Team striker Darren Ehimamiegho was named on the bench.

The hosts were almost ahead inside 20 seconds, when Ashley Nadesan broke into the area one-on-one, but an oustretched foot from Richard O’Donnell denied him.

Dale created a few chances of their own in the first quarter of the game. Danny Lloyd fired a free-kick into the wall, Henderson curled an effort narrowly over the bar, and Ethan Brierley had a cross-shot well blocked after a nice short corner routine.

Crawley’s James Tilley and Aramide Oteh had efforts off target, before O’Donnell denied Telford one-on-one.

Brierley and Henderson both had shots blocked by the home defence, but in the 35^th minute they broke the deadlock, when Telford’s spin and shot from the edge of the six-yard box beat O’Donnell.

Four minutes later they doubled the lead, as Conroy headed a cross from the right home at the far post.

It was almost three on the stroke of half-time, when Nadesan hit the upright after being played through one-on-one, with the ball fortunately falling back into the arms of O’Donnell.

Liam Kelly came on for Max Taylor at the break and Dale saw more of the ball, but couldn’t create a clear cut chance that would give them a lifeline to get back into the game.

Toby Mullarkey and Danny Lloyd picked up injuries and were replaced by Femi Seriki and Sam Graham with little over 15 minutes remaining, before Abraham Odoh showed superb skill on the left and set up Henderson, who fired over with his left foot.

Ehimamiegho came on for Brierley towards the end of the game for his Dale debut, but Bentley’s men couldn’t create anything to get them back into the game.

Subs | Eastwood, Seriki, McNulty, L Kelly, Graham, Diagouraga, Ehimamiegho.