Preview: Crawley Town vs Bromley

Away at Crawley Town tonight, Andy Woodman’s side resume competitive football and could take a big step towards qualification for the next stage of the Jersey Mike’s Trophy.

If they want to progress to the next round, assuming that’s a genuine in-house target, then nothing but a win will do.

Last season, Bromley did the double over Crawley on their way to the League Two title, scoring six goals in the process. That side, managed by Scott Lindsey, only escaped relegation by a single point. The club dispensed with his services on March 24th, but their fortunes have yet to change under new manager Colin Kazim-Richards.

The former Turkish international was appointed interim head coach and saved Crawley from the drop on the final day of the season. That led to him being named permanent manager on May 12th.

However, the jury remains out on his impact. Since his appointment, the Reds have only won three of his first seventeen competitive fixtures, and going into this fixture, they find themselves bottom of League Two. Another season of struggle seems to be on the cards.

Kazim-Richards’ post-match reflections have hinted at fine margins and a turnaround being just around the corner, but that gets harder to justify with each failure to win.

The burning question here is who needs this win more?

Crawley face Chesterfield at home on Saturday while Bromley travel to Mansfield. With both protagonists looking to steer clear of danger, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that league points trump Trophy victories by a large margin.

But is there an argument that this competition offers each side a chance to form a winning habit?

Crawley, like Bromley, rotated their squad for their 4-1 Trophy defeat at MK Dons, with former Bromley captain Jude Arthurs an unused sub. Given Jude has an opportunity to play against his old club tonight, I find it hard to believe he would want to sit this out, but perhaps needs must.

Tom Ellman, Crawley Town chief executive, admitted this week that Crawley’s budget should place them higher than their current league position. Reading between the lines, this rather heaps pressure on Kazim-Richards to get things right sooner rather than later.

There is no way Jude Arthurs left Bromley to sign a good contract at Crawley with the mindset that he would captain a side to relegation.

If they’re to truly get their season up and running, a win against Bromley would be just the tonic. But for that to happen, they have to stop conceding goals.

Crawley have the worst defence in League Two in terms of goals conceded per match (1.9), and they aren’t doing enough at the other end either, with their goals per match among the lowest in the league (0.9). Those numbers are a recipe for disaster.

For Andy Woodman, this might represent his best chance to record Bromley’s first-ever EFL Trophy victory. More importantly, it offers a low-stakes competitive fixture to try and tweak things ahead of the Mansfield encounter on Saturday.

Against Brentford B, Andy heavily rotated his side, giving opportunities to Adam Jackson, Nathan Paul-Lavaly, Rex Porter, Nathan Patten, Ethon Archer, Ben Thompson, Tobias Brenan, Jodi Jones, Michael Cheek and Nicke Kabamba.

Will he go with the same XI for Crawley? Or will he take the view that the players who beat Huddersfield haven’t had a game in 17 days and need a run-out to get back up to speed?

When is a lengthy break too much of a break?

Woodman’s preferred shape of late is a 4-2-3-1, but against Brentford B he opted for 4-4-2. If gaining minutes for his strikers is a priority tonight, then it is more likely he will line up 4-4-2 again.

In that regard, who of the first-choice and returning cast will get the call?

Perhaps the bench will be much stronger, with an option to give likely first-choice starters 20 or 30 minutes.

What way do you see it going?

Smith

Paul-Lavaly Jackson Patten Mendy

Archer Brenan Thompson Jones

Cheek Kabamba