By Chris
This weekend, Notts County head to the Broadfield Stadium to face Crawley Town in League Two.
The Magpies have a chance to make it eight games unbeaten in all competition should they get a result against Harry Kewell's side.
History
Notts County have only ever played Crawley Town 10 times in their history.
The first fixture between the two was just under five years ago, on 10 November 2012.
This milestone first meeting between the two, played at Meadow Lane, finished 1-1.
Meanwhile the return fixture, played away on the 9th March 2013, ended as a goalless draw.
The record stands at six Notts wins, two defeats and two draws.
Our recent record against them is very good, the Magpies winning the last four encounters (all in League Two) and six of the last seven.
The last fixture took place on 28 January this year at Meadow Lane, a 2-1 win with Thierry Audel and Jonathan Forte grabbing the goals for us.
Run-down of their last 5 fixtures
Saturday 19th August – Crawley Town 0 Cambridge United 1
Saturday 26th August – Swindon Town 0 Crawley Town 3
Saturday 2nd September – Crawley Town 2 Yeovil Town 0
Saturday 9th September – Colchester United 3 Crawley Town 1
Tuesday 12th September – Stevenage 1 Crawley Town 1
The Players – Fact Sheet
Highest Goal Scorers: Jordan Roberts 3, Jimmy Smith 2, Enzio Boldewijn 1 and Ibrahim Meite 1.
Persistent Foulers: Josh Payne 3 yellow cards, Jordan Roberts 2 yellow cards, Mark Randall 1 yellow cards and Dean Cox 1 yellow cards.
The Key Players
Out wide Dennon Lewis can be very influential when going forward, the 20-year-old winger can also offer Crawley Town a lot of pace and direct movement – which can be tricky.
The youngster, who is out on loan from Watford, can also switch flanks and likes to drift into the middle where he tends to get more chances on goal.
Jordan Roberts is another player that likes to get time on the ball, and can take a shot from range which is usually not far from the target.
Whilst Enzio Boldwijn and Ibrahim Meite offer Crawley Town a lot of options upfront, as the versatile strikers tend to move around – offering them support out-wide when needed.
They both also have a fair bit of pace and like to run directly at the opposition defence.
Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses
Crawley Town largely mix between hoofing the ball, and trying to play the ball on the ground – with more focus on attacking through the centre of the park.
They tend to commit players when going forward, whilst they resort to having shots at goal largely from distance.
The Devils are an able side capable of moving the ball nicely around, however they do appear to have limitations on how best to use their momentum.
From a defensive point of view, they leave a vulnerability at the back when they commit players forward and they struggle to re-group when hit on the counter.
Their position play going forward can be very good, yet at the back its very dubious to say the least and as a result they look very weak when coping with attacking minded teams.
Notts will have to try to create chances whereby they can get behind their defenders, as Crawley like to keep the play in front of them.
Jorge Grant should be able to find more time on the ball against these, so he will be key to unlocking play and pushing Notts forward.
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