Harrogate Town v Crawley Town: Sulphurites aiming to get back on track against toothless Red Devils

The Sulphurites kicked-off their 2022/23 campaign in style, beating Swindon 3-0 at Wetherby Road on the opening day.

But, they went down by the same scoreline at Crewe last weekend, then lost out 1-0 at home to Stockport in the League Cup in midweek.

Manager Simon Weaver has stressed that his new-look squad is still gelling following the arrival of 11 new faces during the close season, but the Red Devils arrive at Wetherby Road bottom of the table with no points and no goals to their name.

Thus, for all their summer investment, this doesn't look like the worst time to be taking on Kevin Betsy's team.

They suffered a 1-0 defeat at Carlisle in their season-opener before losing out by the same score when they entertained Leyton Orient seven days later.

Crawley did upset League One Bristol Rovers in the League Cup on Tuesday, but in terms of their League Two statistics, there isn't much to write home about from an attacking perspective.

Key stats:

The Sussex outfit dominated possession at Carlisle, enjoying 66 per cent of possession, and against Orient where they had the ball for 65 per cent of the contest.

But, Betsy's men have mustered just nine shots at goal during their opening two matches - the lowest in the division - with just one of those efforts hitting the target - also the lowest in the division.

By comparison, even though they were beaten and failed to score last time out, Harrogate have had 24 shots, eight of which were on target.

Crawley head into this weekend's contest with an xG (expected goals) of 0.3 - again the lowest in League Two - while Town's xG is 1.19. For context, Bradford City boast the best xG in the division with 2.22.

Simon Weaver on Crawley:

Speaking about the threat that the Red Devils will pose, Weaver said: "We've been watching their games as a staff on the lap-top and we know that they are a slippery team.

"They've got a new manager in Kevin Betsy. He's obviously come with a mindset to play really expansive football and that's been his past in youth academies, that brand of football.

"With that, it makes them a slippery unit to play against. If you don't press with the right intensity, they can skip it past you. So, we've got to be cute upstairs and make sure we remain focused and stay together as units and make sure everybody stays connected and remains solid throughout.

"At the same time, we've got those players who we think can be very aggressive in terms of closing them down, all over the pitch. Especially higher up the pitch, where we've got some power and pace.

"So, if we can upset their rhythm, hopefully we can profit from their style of play because they are a good footballing team, but they'll play out from the back."

Simon Weaver on team selection:

Weaver made four changes to his starting line-up for Tuesday's League Cup loss to Stockport, handing defenders Kyle Ferguson and Lewis Richards and attackers Jack Muldoon and Emmanuel Ilesanmi their first starts of the campaign.

And, while he was impressed by what he saw from each of those players - particularly centre-half Ferguson - it appears likely that he will revert back to a starting line-up similar to that which was selected against Swindon and Crewe.

The Harrogate boss explained: "We did have three or four players in who I spoke to ahead of training on Thursday just to try and give them clarity of the situation. If they played well the other night and don't find themselves in the starting XI, I want them to understand the logic of having a steady ship here and not a culture of chop and change.

"But, everybody is fully in the knowledge now that we have got really good competition for places and therefore it should sharpen everybody's focus in games and in training and that can only be healthy for our prospects going forwards."

Kevin Betsy on tackling Harrogate:

Speaking ahead of his side's long trip north, Crawley chief Betsy said: "Our preparations have been very good. Off the back of a really good performance and result on Tuesday, we go into the game full of confidence.

"Everyone is in really good spirits. There's a really good feel around the place, so we are looking forward to the game.

"We know it's going to be a really tough test, but we go there with good ascendancy and hopefully get a positive result.

"Off the back of a fantastic pre-season, the first couple of games, we did play well in loads of aspects, but didn't create enough chances, we are fully aware of that.

"We put that right on Tuesday and now it's another opportunity in the league to have a good performance and result."

Team news: Long-term casualties Will Smith, Rory McArdle, Josh Falkingham and Max Wright will definitely miss out. Influential midfielder Alex Pattison (calf) and former Crawley winger Tyler Frost (ankle) are rated by boss Weaver as "touch-and-go".

Last three: Harrogate Town - Stockport County (h) League Cup 0-1, Crewe Alexandra (a) L2 0-3, Swindon Town (h) L2 3-0.

Crawley Town - Bristol Rovers (h) League Cup 1-0, Leyton Orient (h) L2 0-1, Carlisle United (a) L2 0-1.

Last time: Harrogate Town 1 Crawley 3, February 8, 2022, League Two.

Huddersfield Town loanee Brahima Diarra's first goal for the Sulphurites arrived just after the hour-mark and cancelled out Aramide Oteh's 48th-minute opener.

But some poor defending by Warren Burrell gifted Crawley a second of the night on 79 minutes, Tom Nichols stealing possession before teeing up Nick Tsaroulla for an easy finish.

Nichols himself then made the points safe late on with a cultured strike.

Reflecting on that encounter, Weaver said: "It's frustrating. It was a tight game but Crawley deserved the win because we made individual errors, we didn't do enough in the final third and, overall, we didn't play well enough.

"At the back, it was kamikaze stuff. Their goals have come from nothing. Some of the decision-making beggars belief.

Match odds: Harrogate 13/10, draw 13/5, Crawley 11/5.