Maidenhead United 1-2 AET Crawley Town ( att : 1,814 ) – 2024/25 FA Cup

November 2, 2024

Today’s FA Cup First Round saw a potential giant-killing with National League Maidenhead United hosting struggling League One side Crawley Town, although it wasn’t selected for TV coverage. With a friend being a season ticket holder at Maidenhead it was an ideal opportunity to catch-up and watch the game.

As from this season, there will be no replays in the FA Cup so if the scores are level after 90 minutes, there will be 30 minutes extra time and then penalties if needed.

As a lifelong Crawley Town fan, these diaries covered their 2-0 promotion play-off victory at Wembley in May over Crewe Alexandra, which secured their promotion to League One in the greatest day in the club’s history.

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/05/crawley-town-2-0-crewe-alexandra-att.html 

Unfortunately, Crawley’s US owners allowed the core of the promotion winning squad to leave the club during the summer, leaving manager Scott Lindsay to rebuild a new squad for the second season running.

Crawley This Season

Lindsay’s hastily assembled squad of promising non-league wannabees, cast offs and players rehabilitating from injury started the season unexpectedly well, with a 2-1 home win over Blackpool and a 1-0 victory at Cambridge United, as well as a 4-2 success over Swindon in the League Cup, which only served to emphasize his growing reputation as a coach.

A penalty shootout win over Brighton Under 21s in the EFL trophy followed and although the first defeat of the season occurred at Wigan in the next game, supporters were still encouraged as they felt it was the best Crawley had played all season, and the 0-1 loss was against the run of play.

The exit from the League Cup against a strong Brighton XI was also encouraging, as Albion unusually had significantly less of the possession and Crawley regularly created and missed chances, whereas Albion’s Simon Adringa and Julio Enciso clinically took theirs. Two goals in the closing couple of minutes made it a flattering 0-4 scoreline to the Seagulls.

Crawley slumped to a disappointed 0-3 home loss to Barnsley in their next match but bounced back to take a 1-1 home draw from highly rated Stockport County. However, things went downhill from there with an unfortunate 1-2 loss at Wrexham, after which Lindsay opted to leave Crawley to take up an offer to become manager of MK Dons.

Ben Gladwin was appointed temporary coach, but Crawley slid to insipid losses to Bolton ( H 0-2 ) and Mansfield ( H 0-2 ). Gladwin left his role to join Lindsay at MK Dons and Crawley appointed Gateshead coach Rob Elliot as their new manager.

The initial results were not promising as Crawley lost at Wycombe ( 0-1 ), at home to Wimbledon in the EFL Trophy ( 3-4 ), and at home to Shrewsbury ( 3-5 ). Despite totally outplaying Reading, some remarkable misses and dreadful defending somehow ended in a 1-4 away defeat, but lessons seemed to have been learned as the defence suddenly looked much stronger, and high riding Lincoln City were vanquished after second half goals from Will Swan, Ronan Darcy and Rushain Hepburn-Murphy.

Hopes that the performance against Lincoln would mark a turnaround in results were dashed as The Red Devils slumped to 0-3 defeat at Northampton last Saturday.

That result left Crawley with a 3-1-9 record to leave them in 22^nd place in the League One table, and with just four points from their last 11 league matches.

Crawley Squad

Of the 15 players that featured in the Wembley Play-off final only Jay Williams, Jeremy Kelly, Ronan Darcy, Jack Roles, Ade Adeyemo and Dion Conroy are still with the club, but Conroy has not played all season due to injury.

Four players were sold for undisclosed fees, striker Danilio Orsi joined Burton Albion, playmaker Liam Kelly went to MK Dons, attacking midfielder Klaidi Lolos signed for Bolton Wanderers and keeper Corey Addai is now with Stockport County.

The rest all left at the end of the expiry of their contracts or loans and opted to stay in League Two or lower rather than face the challenge of the step up to League One. Defenders Will Wright and Laurence Maguire joined Swindon and MK Dons respectively, wing-backs Kellan Gordon and Nick Tsaroulla signed for Notts County, and winger Adam Campbell returned to the north-east to join Hartlepool. Several fringe players also left the club.

In their place 17 new players were signed plus three joined on loan. Those that have been playing regularly include ex-Hibernian keeper JoJo Wollacott ( 11 caps for Ghana ), defender Josh Flint joined from Dutch side Volendam, right back Toby Mullarkey joined from Grimsby, centre-half Charlie Barker came from Wealdstone, midfielder Max Anderson played for Dundee last season, an undisclosed fee was paid to Mansfield for forward Will Swan, and pacy forward Rushian Hepburn-Murphy was previously with Swindon.

Guinea Bissau winger Junior Quitirna was previously with Fleetwood Town and was the top scorer with four goals but was missing today through injury, and countryman Patutche Camara ( 4 caps ) rejoined Crawley after being released by Ipswich.

Nigerian defender Benjamin Tanimu ( 3 caps ) was bought from Tanzanian side Singida All Stars, with rumours on the internet suggesting the fee was over $500K ! Tanimu though, has since made only two brief substitute appearances.

Crawley have a track record of signing injured forwards. Tola Showunmi arrived from the US in August but has only made two appearances from the bench, and highly rated ex-Arsenal youngster Tyreece John-Jules will be out for a few more weeks. He is the nephew of actor Danny John-Jules, who played Cat in Red Dwarf and Dwayne Myers in Death In Paradise.

The three loanees were Hertha Berlin defensive midfielder Bradley Ibrahim, Southampton youngster Cameron Bragg, and Chelsea’s Welsh Under 21 keeper Eddie Beech. Unfortunately, Beech is out injured.

Watching Maidenhead

Maidenhead have appeared three times in these diaries, with last season’s home and away matches against Oxford City in the National League being the most recent. 

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/12/oxford-city-1-4-maidenhead-united-att.html 

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/08/maidenhead-united-0-0-oxford-city-att.html 

Prior to that a 0-1 home loss to Dagenham & Redbridge from 2019 was featured.

Maidenhead United Background

Maidenhead United were founded in 1870 and played in the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871, and reached the quarter finals on three occasions in the 1870s. Their York Road stadium is acknowledged as being the oldest stadium to have continually hosted football matches by the same club, with Maidenhead playing there since 1871. The ground now has a capacity of 4,000.

The Magpies won National League South in 2016/17 to win promotion to the National League where they have stayed ever since.  Last season they finished in 14^th place and their highest placing was 12^th in 2017/18.

Ex West Ham and England midfielder Alan Devonshire ( 8 caps ) has been in charge since 2015. Devonshire was also the manager between 1996 to 2003 before taking over at Hampton and Richmond Borough.

Maidenhead This Season

Maidenhead were currently in 19^th place in the National League with a 4-4-8 record. Their start of the season was awful with just one win ( Barnet H 3-1 ) and two draws in the opening ten matches. They then won three on trot, beating Ebbsfleet United  ( H 2-1 ), Boston United ( A 2-1 ) and Southend United ( A 2-0 ) and then recorded two more draws before slipping to a 1-3 loss in their most recent game, at Yeovil. Ex-Newport County, Carlisle, Gillingham and Leyton Orient striker Tristan Abrahams was their top scorer in the league with four goals, along with ex-Farnborough centre-back Kevin Lokko.

Maidenhead needed a replay to overcome step 3 Taunton Town in the 4^th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, winning 3-0 at home after a 1-1 draw in Somerset.

Maidenhead’s average attendance in the league this season was 1,249.

Maidenhead Squad

Four of the team that played in the 4-1 win at Oxford City last December have left the club. Winger Ashley Nathaniel-George joined York City, defender Nico Asare is now with Harrogate, midfielder Sam Beckwith signed for Rochdale and Lewis Kinsella retired.

Their replacements include defender Miles Welch-Hayes, who is on loan from Livingston, left-back Thierry Latty-Fairweather on loan from York City, midfielder James Golding on loan from Oxford United, and ex-Crawley and Guyana international midfielder Nathan Ferguson ( 8 caps ) signed from Wealdstone.

Players with experience of playing in the Football League include ex-Wycombe centre-back Will de Havilland, ex-Newport, Southend, Forest Green Rovers & Colchester striker Shawn McCoulsky, ex-Southend, Peterborough and Cheltenham Irish midfielder Kane Ferdinand, ex-Swindon & Ayr United midfielder Jayden Mitchell-Lawson, and ex-Sutton & Carlisle forward Tobi Sho-Silva.

Matchday Information

Tickets for the match were £20 for adults, £15 for concessions ( over 65s, students and unemployed ), £10 for those between the age of 17 to 22 and £5 for the under 17s. Matchday hospitality was £50 and a pint of Cruz Campo was £5.

The journey from Crawley to Maidenhead is 55 miles and should take just over an hour via the M23, M25 and M4. From Fatbear Towers the journey is 26 miles and takes 35 minutes.

Programmes were not on sale on the day of the game. An online programme was published but anyone wanting to have a paper programme had to order at least three days before the game and would have it posted to their home address. The cost including postage was £5, but it didn’t arrive before the game. ( Edit : It arrived on the following Tuesday ! )

Bet365 surprisingly made Crawley 9/10 favourites, with Maidenhead 13/5 and the draw at 14/5.

The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was grey, cloudy and dry, and 15 degrees.

Maidenhead were unchanged from the side that started at Yeovil but Crawley made eight changes, with only Wollacott, Mullarkey and Kelly retaining their places.

Maidenhead were playing in their traditional black and white stripes, with black shorts and red socks. Crawley were in all red.

Match Report

With barely a minute on the clock Maidenhead had a great chance to take the lead. A long ball caught Tanimu out of position enabling Barratt to run in behind him, but with just the keeper to beat the left-footed shot was drilled into the side netting.

Hopes that this might lead to an open an exciting game were quickly extinguished as very little of interest was to happen in the rest of the first half.

Barratt had another attempt on goal but his optimistic effort from inside his own half was going gently wide before Wollacott claimed the ball. Maidenhead won a few corners and a couple of free kicks in promising positions, but the much-maligned Crawley defence comfortably cleared all balls launched into their area and Wollacott claimed the in-swinging corners.

For Crawley, Hepburn-Murphy made a couple of lively runs down the right but without any end product. Hepburn-Murphy and Camara combined well on the right but when the ball was played across the penalty area, Camara completely missed his kick, and the chance was gone.

Hepburn-Murphy saw a low cross deflected off for a corner. Bragg’s delivery was headed away by Ferguson and when Crawley reworked possession, Mullarkey’s header was going wide, but keeper Ross carried it over the line for another corner.

Crawley had a good spell in the middle third of the first half and were playing the ball around nicely but without looking threatening. Kelly played a short corner towards Bragg but the Southampton loanee slipped and a goal kick was the outcome. A through pass from Roles was overhit and keeper Ross gathered ahead of Hepburn-Murphy. The final “action” of the first half saw Barratt’s corner caught by Wollacott.

As the players headed for the half-time oranges, there had not been a single shot on target, and it was suggested to save time, perhaps they should go straight to the penalty shoot-out.

However, Maidenhead again started the half brightly and after some good trickery from Smith, Barratt’s shot was blocked by Tanimu. At the other end, Holohan went on a good run but after finding Bragg, the long range shot was going well wide but was caught anyway by Ross.

Showunmi won a corner off Lokko for Crawley and Roles then won another, but both were dealt with by The Magpies defence.

In the 54^th minute a long throw from Barratt was headed back to him, and his follow up chip needed to be punched away by Wollacott. After a scramble in the Crawley area, Smith’s fierce drive was bravely blocked by Mullarkey.

Three minutes later Roles robbed Lokko of possession and ran clear into the Maidenhead area, but Ross produced a great one handed save to push the shot over the bar. It was the best chance of the match to date

Roles and Adeyemo combined to win a corner for The Reds, which Ross claimed under pressure from Showunmi.

Crawley’s defence then gave the ball away allowing Smith to run inside the Crawley box, but the Maidenhead midfielder went to ground, only for the referee to award a goal kick.

Crawley’s defence were at fault again soon after. Mukena dwelt in possession enabling Smith to push the ball away from him to McCoulsky, who set off on a weaving run, and then hammered the ball into the roof of the net from just inside the area. Wollacott had no chance of stopping it. 1-0 with 64 minutes played and “One-Nil to the part-timers” rang around the ground !

Crawley looked to immediately hit back but after good work by Hepburn-Murphy down the left, Roles saw a shot blocked. Adeyemo then teed up Camara, but the shot from the edge of the area went a couple of yards wide.

However, in the 68^th minute Wollacott stayed on his line rather than coming to gather a long ball, leaving Tanimu instead to deal with the danger, and under pressure from Smith, the Nigerian conceded a corner. Smith took a short corner and received the ball back. He was able to get to the byline and his low ball was bravely saved by Wollacott at his near post. However, the keeper took a knock in the process and after a lengthy delay had to leave the field to be replaced by Jasper Sheik, who was making his debut for Crawley. Wollacott looked concussed as he walked past us on his way to the dressing rooms.

When Maidenhead won a corner shortly after Sheik entered the fray, they surrounded the young keeper with six players to intimidate him, so Crawley then following suit with the inevitable argy-bargy, forcing the referee to restore the peace. As soon as the corner was struck the referee predictably blew for a foul on the keeper !

Sheik would have boosted his confidence with a low save to keep out a free kick from Ferguson, only to undo the good work with some confusion with Ibrahim in dealing with a hopeful ball into the area, but Ibrahim recovered to clear before McCoulsky could take advantage.

With seven minutes remaining, Smith went on another good run on the left and found McCoulsky with his pull back. The striker opted to side foot from 8 yards and Sheik made a potentially match saving save to push the ball away diving to his left.

With the clock ticking De Havilland did well to stop Roles getting onto a through ball and then a mass melee ensured after a foul by Ibrahim on Ferguson. Both players were shown the first yellow cards of the game in the 91^st minute.

Eight minutes of added time were announced. The impressive Smith made another great run down the left and his cross was met by the flying Pettit, but the header went over the bar.

At the other end Welch-Hayes stopped Adeyemo at the expense of a corner, and when the ball was delivered into the Maidenhead area, it just wouldn’t fall for Ibrahim to get a shot away, and the Maidenhead defence were able to crowd him out and clear.

Crawley were finally starting to ramp up the pressure, but despite twisting one way and turning another, Roles’ shot from the edge of the area was blocked.

Ibrahim then did well to work the ball to Holohan on the right wing, but the cross was poor and should have been dealt with by Golding. However, the Oxford United loanee made a hash of controlling the ball, Forster took the ball off him and laid back to Swan, whose first-time close-range shot was blocked on the line, perhaps by Showunmi. However, Mullarkey reacted the quickest to prod the ball over the line from about four yards. 1-1 after 97 minutes.

The game wasn’t over yet, and Showunmi set off on a dangerous run from the half-way line only for Latty-Fairweather to haul him down and take a yellow card for the team. The free kick from Roles bounced across the goalmouth and off for a goal kick with no Crawley attacker able to get on the end of it. A minute later, Showumni was chopped down by De Havilland for another yellow card. Crawley though were unable to grab a winner, and the game went into extra time after Crawley’s late equaliser.

The old cliché of the fitness of the full-timers could make the difference was trotted out as the additional 30 minutes commenced, and Crawley dominated the first extra 15 minutes.  

De Havilland tripped Hepburn-Murphy and was perhaps fortunate to avoid a second yellow card. Roles and Hepburn-Murphy both enthusiastically shot well wide when they would have been better off trying to find a better placed team-mate, and then after good persistence from Roles to get into the Maidenhead area, Hepburn-Murphy again wasted the position by shooting wildly rather than cross.

Adeyemo showed good skill then crossed from the left and Holohan bundled the ball into the net, but a clear foul on the goalkeeper had been committed and Maidenhead were awarded a free-kick. Swan made a good run but after finding Adeyemo, the cross was easily caught by keeper Ross.

The only attack for the home side saw Smith deliver a dangerous cross, but Abrahams couldn’t get to it, and Ibrahim cleared over his own bar.

After spending most of the first period of extra time hanging on, Maidenhead had a second wind and took the game to their higher ranked visitors. Ferguson shot over from the edge of the D, a neat flick from Abrahams could have put Carvalho clear but the substitute slipped, then a Ferguson free kick was punched away by Sheik under pressure, and when Smith reworked to Carvalho the shot was blocked for a corner. The pressure on the Crawley defence was relieved when a wild lunge from Abraham made contact with the Crawley keeper, but no card was dished out.

A card was produced shortly after though when Pettit made a late tackle on Ibrahim, but the only instance of cramp followed, but it was Crawley’s Holohan who went down and had to be replaced. So much for the full-timers being fitter !

With penalties looming on the horizon, Mullarkey launched a long ball out of defence where Swan won a header on the edge of the Maidenhead area, which found Showunmi. The centre forward took a touch, held off De Havilland, and then turned to shot home from the edge of the area into the bottom corner for a dramatic winner, and his first goal for Crawley. 1-2 after 116 minutes.

Despite four minutes of further injury time being added, Crawley comfortably saw out the end of the game to progress to the second round

Frankly, it wasn’t a great game, and it took a long time to warm up and generate any excitement. Maidenhead will undoubtedly consider this to be a harsh defeat, and there didn’t look to be two divisions between the two sides.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcaTx3IXaY

Link to Online Programme : https://issuu.com/maidenheadunitedfc/docs/crawley_021124_1_

Maidenhead United : Ross – Welch-Hayes, De Havilland, Lokko, Latty-Fairweather – Smith ( Sho-Silva ), Pettit, Golding ( Cochrane ), Ferguson, Barratt ( Carvalho ) – McCoulsky ( Abrahams )

Crawley Town : Wollacott ( Sheik ) – Tanimu ( Ibrahim ), Mukena, Mullarkey – Hepburn-Murphy, Camara ( Swan ), Bragg ( Forster ), Holohan ( Anderson ), Kelly ( Adeyemo ) -  Roles, Showunmi

 

 

 

Crawley Town 2-0 Crewe Alexandra ( att : 33,341 ) -2023/24 League Two Play-Off Final

May 19, 2024

The League Two Play-Off Final unexpectedly saw Crewe Alexandra meeting Crawley Town, as the sides that finished sixth and seventh in the regular season overcame the sides that had finished above them in the table.

Crewe remarkably halted the Doncaster Rovers juggernaut that had won 19 and drawn one of their last 20 matches, including a first leg 2-0 play-off win at Crewe. However, two early goals in the return leg levelled the tie, and with neither side being able to make a further breakthrough the game went to a penalty shoot-out, which Crewe won 4-3.

Crawley were a revelation in their tie against MK Dons, convincingly winning the home first leg 3-0, and then were outstanding in romping to a 5-1 victory in the return for an 8-1 aggregate triumph, which was apparently the biggest winning margin in EFL play-offs since they were introduced.

Being born and raised in Crawley, it was an opportunity to witness Crawley’s first ever visit to Wembley ! It would also be Fatbear’s first Football League match since the Covid Lockdowns………….

Previous Visits To Wembley

Working in Stonebridge Park in the 1980s and 1990s, it was convenient to attend matches at Wembley, being able to walk-up from the office to the stadium, and then driving home from the office car park afterwards, usually avoiding most of the traffic.

My first visit to Wembley Stadium was against East Germany in September 1984, when Bryan Robson scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. I saw England play 22 times at the old Wembley, including the last game before it was demolished and rebuilt, the 0-1 defeat to Germany. 

 

The only ever other England defeat I saw at Wembley was my previous visit, the 0-1 loss to Scotland in the Euro 2000 play-offs, where a 2-0 win at Hampden in the first leg was sufficient for England to proceed to the finals.

I was able to watch three of England’s matches in Euro 1996, the 1-1 draw with Switzerland, the 2-0 victory over Scotland and the penalty shoot-out triumph over Spain in the quarter finals after a 0-0 draw. I was also present for the Euro 96 final, where Germany beat the Czech Republic 2-1 thanks to Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal.

Three other finals I attended at Wembley were the 1990/91 Division Two ( as was ) Play-off final where Brighton lost 1-3 to Notts County due to a Tommy Johnson hat-trick, the 1992 European Cup Final where Barcelona beat Sampdoria 1-0 with a Ronald Koeman free-kick in extra time, and the 1993 European Cup Winners Cup Final between Parma and Royal Antwerp, where the Italian side were victorious 3-1.

I have made one visit to the “new” Wembley after it re-opened, when a Manchester City supporting friend got me a ticket for the 2012/13 FA Cup Final, when Wigan caused an upset by beating Manchester City 1-0. In the chaos to catch the train home afterwards, the heavens opened and we got drenched !

Watching Crawley Town

The first Crawley match I can remember being taken to was in August 1969, when in their first home match after being promoted to the Southern League Premier Division, they drew 0-0 with Romford at Town Mead. I only watched two more games that season but was virtually an ever present for the next 10 years, through the glory days of the goals from Phil Basey and Eric Whittington and the goal-keeping of John Maggs, and the FA Cup First Round matches at home to Chelmsford City and Exeter City. There were also the low points of several seasons at the bottom or the lower reaches of Southern League Division One. I was there when Dartford won 10-0 in a Floodlight cup tie………..

I stopped watching Crawley when I went to University, but after starting work in London I would watch a handful of games every season, including FA Cup ties at Brighton, Exeter, Hayes, Met Police ( twice ), Hampton, Erith, Worcester, Sutton, Barton Rovers, Horsham and Tring, and home Cup ties against Northampton, Horsham, Bromley, Merthyr ( twice ), Hastings, Yeovil and Barnet plus, of course, some league games, many of them against Wealdstone.

Moving abroad prevented me from watching Crawley for a dozen years or so but since returning to England I have watched some of the more local games to where I now live, including 4 visits to Cheltenham, three at Wycombe Wanderers and Oxford United, plus Brentford, and Coventry City when they played at Northampton. I also saw Crawley’s first ever Football League match, a 2-2 draw at Port Vale in August 2011. 

 

Watching Crewe Alexandra

I had only seen Crewe on one previous occasion, travelling to Gresty Road in January 1995 to see Crewe thrash Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 in Division Two as it was called at the time ie the third division of English Football. The Crewe side that day included Danny Murphy, Neil Lennon and Dele Adebola.

 

Crawley This Season

Crawley were amongst the favourites for relegation this season. The 2022/23 season had been one to forget, finishing in 22^nd place, three points ahead of Hartlepool.  A 2-0 win at Hartlepool three games from the end of the season had been decisive in the battle to stay up, and safety was confirmed a game later with 0-0 dull draw at home to Walsall, not that any Crawley fan complained about the lack of entertainment that day.

Crawley’s squad had been weakened during that season by the departure of many of their senior players due to a combination of the fallout of the John Yems racism case and getting high wage earners off the payroll. Manager Scott Lindsey, the third manager of the season, had to manage his small, injury prone squad wisely, and targeted the key games to pick-up points, and readily wrote-off games at Barrow and Mansfield, and the subsequent heavy defeats were irrelevant in the big scheme of things.

The signings made by Crawley during the summer hardly suggested ambition, with two players joining from National League South ( Klaidi Lolos from Oxford City and Jay Mukena from St Albans City, who had played against each other in the National League South play-off final ) and St Kitts & Nevis international Jay Williams signed from National League North side Brackley Town. Ade Adeyemo was recruited from Isthmian League South East Division side Cray Valley Paper Mills.

Two wingers were signed from the National League, Harry Forster from Bromley and Adam Campbell from Gateshead, and ex-Reading midfielder Liam Kelly had been released after Rochdale were relegated from the Football League. Danilo Orsi joined after being released by Grimsby as a replacement for last season’s top scorer and two goal saviour at Hartlepool, Dom Telford, who had been allowed to join Barrow. Defender Lawrence Maguire, brother of Harry, was deemed surplus to requirements by National League Chesterfield, so signed on a season long loan with League Two Crawley.

Against the odds, Crawley started the season well, winning 6 of their opening 10 league matches to sit in second place. The normal order seemed to have returned with just 6 victories in the next 20 games, as The Red Devils dropped to 15^th in mid-February. With Jeremy Kelly then joining from second tier US side FC Tulsa, and Lolos finally getting an extended run in the side, 8 wins in 11 games propelled Crawley back up to 7^th, including eye-catching away wins at Tranmere ( 3-1 ), Newport Country ( 4-0 ) and Mansfield ( 4-1 ). They remained in the final play-off slot despite then going 4 games without win, until a final day 2-0 home win over Grimsby secured their place in the promotion play-offs.

Including his hat-trick at MK Dons in the play-off semi-final, Orsi had scored 24 goals in all competitions this season, followed by Lolos with 14. Keeper Corey Addai had gathered some media attention for often playing like a right-back wearing gloves ! According to Transfermrkt, Jeremy Kelly was the most valuable player at €350K.

Average attendances at the Broadfield Stadium this season were 3,571, up from 3,106 in 2022/23.

Crewe Alexandra This Season

The Railwaymen were in their second consecutive season in League Two after finishing rock bottom in League One in 2021/22. Last season they finished in mid-table obscurity in 13^th place.

Crewe didn’t appear to unduly strengthen their squad during the close season, although experienced centre-back Mickey Demitriou joined from Newport County and playmaker Jack Powell joined from Crawley, only to be ruled out in October for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. Demitriou had been on the losing side on his three previous appearances at Wembley, losing twice in the play-off finals with Newport, and an FA Cup tie against Tottenham when Spurs were playing at Wembley whilst White Hart Lane was being rebuilt.

A couple of astute loan signings were made though, with right-back Aaron Rowe joining for the season from Huddersfield and defender Ed Turns joined on loan from Brighton in the winter transfer window. Wycombe Polish keeper Max Srtyjek joined on an emergency loan in April, and was the hero of the penalty shoot-out in Doncaster, especially for earning a yellow card for throwing the Donny keeper’s water bottle with notes on the Crewe penalty takers into the crowd behind the goal !

Crewe had been in the upper echelons of the table for most of the season and started with just three defeats in their opening 19 games to sit in third place. They then went on a run of 6 games without a win to drop down to 7^th, but then won 7 of their next 10 games to climb back into the top three. Unfortunately for them, a run of only 2 wins in their final 12 games saw them drop out of contention for automatic promotion and they needed a final day 1-1 draw at Colchester to ensure a place in the play-offs.

Ex-Tranmere striker Elliot Nevitt was their top scorer with 18 goals and had previously scored a hat-trick at Wembley, for Warrington Rylands in the FA Vase. Demitriou was next on 10 goals.

Of their other players that started in the second leg against Doncaster, three had come through their famed youth system ( Lewis Billington, Rio Adebasi and Joel Tabiner ), whilst forward Chris Long had Burnley, Brentford and Motherwell on his CV, Shilow Tracey was previously with Cambridge United and midfielder Conor Thomas was ex-Coventry, Swindon and Cheltenham.

Transfermrkt had two of the loanees as the most valuable players, rating Srtyjek at €600K and Turns at €400K.

The average attendance at Gresty Road, or the Mornflake Stadium as it is now known for Sponsorship reasons, was 5,090 compared to 4,289 last season.

Previous Meetings

These two sides first met in the 2011/12 season when they played out two 1-1 draws. However, in total Crewe have had the edge, with 12 wins against only three wins for Crawley, and five draws. Crewe were on a run of six wins and a draw in the last 7 meetings and won both encounters this season.  Back in October, Crawley twice led at home but three second half goals gave Crewe a 4-2 win. At Gresty Road in February, a goal from Adebisi gave Crewe all three points in a close encounter.

Matchday information

The weather at the 13.00 kick-off time was sunny with the temperature around 20 degrees, but it felt warmer than that.

Bet365.com made Crawley strong favourites at Evens, with Crewe at 5/2 and the draw at 12/5.

Both sides were allocated up to 38,000 tickets each, with the prices ranging from £27 to £65 for audits, with half price for concessions ( OAPs and Under 16s ) although strangely the age was 65 for Crewe supporters but only 60 for Crawley. There were also price reductions for young adults ie 17-21 year olds. 

However, the Ticketmaster booking system was shambolic. Category 1 tickets ( the most expensive ) were not initially made available, and it was very difficult to select a specify category 2 ticket, and in the end I had to let the system randomly allocate a ticket. I immediately received an email booking confirmation which stated the ticket would be sent by email up to 48 hours before kick-off, and the pdf with the ticket arrived on the Thursday evening.

 

On the Friday evening before the match it was said that Crawley had sold just over 16,000 tickets, with Crewe selling just over 14,000. Five blocks of seats on the far lower tier were empty, and surprisingly, a long line of stewards were in place on both sides, presumably to prevent anyone trying to spread out into more space. My seat had a pretty decent amount of space and didn’t feel cramped, and the view was good.

My off-peak return train ticket to Wembley was £28, and the match programme cost £10, but Wembley is a cashless venue so I had to pay for it by card.

 

The Crawley Fan Zone had Camden Hills beers on sale for £7.50 with Budweiser and Magners at £7.25, and wines were £9.90, but I didn’t see what the measure was. The South African Street Food stall was selling food for astonishing prices. BBQ Crispy Chicken was £13.10, Chicken Curry Wraps were £11.50, Joburg Stack Burgers were £12, and Chips were £4.90.

Prices inside the stadium were actually better value. There were several craft ales available for £7.25 which is not that much more expensive than my locals in Oxfordshire. Budweiser and Brakespear’s pale ale were £6.99. Gin and Tonics were £9.00. Pies were £5.75 and Cumberland Sausages were £8.30.

Crewe were in their usual red shirts with white shorts whilst Crawley were in a change kit of all white, a colour they had worn to clinch three previous promotions.

After a full season without VAR, including the play-off semi-finals, it was announced that it would be in operation for the play-off final. This would prove to play a crucial role in the game !

Crawley made one change to the side that started at MK Dons with Kellan Gordon replacing the injured Harry Forster. Crewe were unchanged from the side that took to the field at Doncaster.

Match Report

Crawley kicked off and fairly quickly looked to play keeper Addai into the right back position, but Crewe were primed for this with Nevitt immediately closing him down and forcing the clearance to go into touch for a Crewe throw-in.

Crawley had most of the early possession but neither side looked like creating any danger. The first attack of the match came in the 6^th minute when Crewe’s Tracey got past Jeremey Kelly on the right wing, but his cross was straight at Addai, who made a comfortable catch.

A minute later a long cross-field ball from Addai led to a nice move involving Jeremy Kelly, Campbell, Orsi and Campbell again but the final pass was intercepted by Adebisi who launched a swift counter attack for Crewe, but Williams was covering back for Crawley to avert any danger. At this point Adebisi was looking lively for Crewe and looked a danger on the left.

With 10 minutes played Liam Kelly was scythed down close to half-way line, but no card was shown by the referee, and I didn’t see who the offender was. Williams was then surrounded by three Crewe players and looked likely to lose possession but was perhaps a shade fortunate to be awarded a free-kick.

Demetriou then went marauding down the left for Crewe but his cross into the 6 yard box was easily claimed by Addai. At the other end, Turns was forced to make an acrobatic clearance to a cross from the right-wing, and when Crawley reworked the ball to Liam Kelly, the 25 yard effort went narrowly over the bar.

With 16 minutes on the clock Tabiner ran into a dead-end but was awarded a free-kick after going to the floor. However, he wasted the free-kick, which was overhit and went off for a goal-kick to Crawley.

Crawley then responded with a lovely flowing move with first time passes between Maguire, the two Kellys, Orsi and Liam Kelly again but the ex-Rochdale man’s effort on goal lacked power and Stryjek dived to make the save.

The first yellow card of the match arrived in the 18^th minute when Rowe chopped down Maguire close to the half-way line.

In the first twenty minutes, Crawley seemed to have a deliberate ploy of cross-field balls from the right to the left presumably thinking Billington against Jeremy Kelly was a potential opportunity ?

After twenty minutes Crawley had a throw-in deep into Alex territory and the Railwaymen brought all their players back to defend, but although Williams got his head to the throw, he was strangely judged to have fouled despite being ahead of the defender.

Crawley were getting on top and starting to probe. Wright’s long ball down the right-hand channel was just a little too strong for Gordon to keep in play, and a minute later Williams’ chip down the right saw Gordon crowded out by the Crewe defence for a goal-kick. Liam Kelly’s chip was then just a fraction too heavy for Campbell, and Stryjek was off his line to gather.

Then just like a game of cricket, the two sides took a drink break. However, Crawley were still on top and Lolos received a pass from Liam Kelly, cut back inside onto his left foot, but again the shot from outside the area lacked power, and Stryjek made a regulation save. Liam Kelly was the game’s most prominent player, but another attempted killer pass was a fraction too long for Orsi and again Stryjek dived on the through ball.

Crewe though started to get into the match and a free-kick into the danger zone was unconvincingly cleared by the Crawley defence for a throw-in. Demetriou’s long throw was headed away by Maguire, and when Crewe reworked the ball back out to the left, Adebisi’s cross was headed away by Conroy ahead of Nevitt.

Crewe were enjoying a good spell and another long throw by Demetriou was headed clear by Maguire and with Orsi about to make a dangerous break, Crawley were awarded a free-kick in their own area, with no advantage played by the referee.

After 36 minutes, Gordon pushed the ball past Adebisi and then ran into the Crewe left-back, but the referee deemed there was no foul and a goal-kick accrued for the Railwaymen.

Crewe’s best chance of the game to date came in the 37^th minute when Nevitt was able to slip away from Williams, and his 20 yard effort was pushed past the post by the diving Addai. The corner wasn’t dealt with by the Crawley defence and a stabbed shot from 8 yards was blocked, and eventually cleared for a Crewe throw.

Demetriou then released Thomas down the right but his shot was blocked and eventually the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. Nevitt then produced a delightful flick with the outside of his right foot to put Adebisi in space but good defending by Wright won a goal-kick for the Red Devils.

It was therefore slightly against the run of play when Crawley took the lead. Another flowing move saw Liam Kelly find Orsi inside the Crewe area, and the striker wriggled past Turns. Would he ever shot ? Yes, it seemed like an age but after great composure he fabulously finished with the outside of his right foot from 12 yards sent the ball past Stryjek and into the corner of the net ! 1-0 after 41 minutes.

Crawley were now rampant, and Lolos released Gordon down the right. Orsi was able to hold off Demetriou to allow the low cross to reach Jeremy Kelly but his first-time effort deflected off a defender to go narrowly wide for a corner. When the set-piece was played into the area, it bounced awkwardly high into the area and although Maguire got his head to the ball it sailed over the bar. Maguire hit the deck and appealed for a foul, but the referee ignored his claims.

Demetriou then released Long down the right, and although the Crewe striker was at least 5 yards offside, the linesman was 10 yards out of position and in no position to give the offside. Fortunately for Crawley the effort was blocked and cleared for a throw, which Addai leapt high into the air to claim.

Crawley finished the half strongly, the two Kelly’s combined to set-up Lolos, but his 25 yard effort flew a few feet wide, then Wright delivered a long free-kick across the Crewe area for Conroy to head back across goal, but the linesman’s flag was raised for offside.

At the half-time interval, Crawley deserved their one goal lead, but there was a long way to go.

Thirty seconds into the second half Crawley looked to be in trouble after giving away possession close to their area, but Conroy was adjusted to have been fouled and Crawley had a free-kick.

Gordon then got past Adebisi on the right-wing but his cross was headed away. Crawley managed to get the ball back to Gordon, but this time his cross was deflected off Adebisi for a corner. The set-piece was played short and wasted.

Long then made a dangerous run for Crewe and got past Wright, but Conroy was covering and was able to play the ball back to Addai.

The game’s controversial moment occurred in the 51^st minute. Campbell needlessly played a pass back to no one in particular, which Long latched onto and headed for goal. The ex-Motherwell man was clear and attempted to go around Addai and then fell to the floor. Referee Ben Toner awarded a penalty but with a couple of Crawley defenders making the TV screen signs, VAR intervened, and the referee was sent to the pitch side monitor to review. After some deliberation, the decision was reversed, and the TV screen in the ground showed a replay which showed Addai had got his foot to the ball and there had been no contact with Long, who had clearly dived. Fortunately, VAR was there today to overturn a clear miscarriage.

Confusion continued as the referee then awarded a corner, before deciding it was a goal-kick to Crawley. Perhaps in all the confusion the referee forgot to show Long a yellow card for simulation.

In the 57^th minute, Demetriou attempted but failed to prevent Orsi was getting to a long ball, but the referee awarded a soft foul against Orsi on the keeper.

Crawley still had the upper hand. Another cross from Gordon was deflected for a corner, from which Gordon showed good control to brush past two defenders only to see his goal bound effort pushed away by Stryjek.

Gordon continued to be in the action, and another ball in from the right found Lolos, and although the ball struck the arm of a Crewe defender, the referee deemed it not to worthy of handball and a penalty. Gordon then combined with Orsi in another flowing move, but a great tackle from Adebisi prevented more danger at the expense of a throw-in.

In a rare foray into the Crawley half, Adebisi sent a cross from a promising position far too long and off for a goal-kick to Crawley.

Both sides started to make substitutions, and Crawley surprising took off Gordon, who up till then had been a thorn in the Crewe left-hand side.

After 66 minutes Tabiner entered the referee’s notebook after bringing down Jeremy Kelly after a nice 1:2 with Lolos. The free-kick was headed out by the Crewe defence as far as substitute Adeyemo, who lashed a 20 yard effort over the bar.

Whilst Crewe had created very little, there was always the possibility that Crawley would make a defensive clanger, and Williams duly obliged in the 68^th minute. With ample opportunity to play the ball forward, Williams inexplicably decided to turn and play back towards his goal, where Long was lurking. Fortunately for Crawley, Long wasted a good position.

Despite this, it was Crawley who were looking the most likely to score the second goal and Liam Kelly made a strong run from the half-way line and slid the ball to Darcy, whose 20 yard shot was deflected over the bar. A minute later another good move saw Lolos play in Darcy, but his first time effort curled narrowly over the bar.

After 72 minutes, the teams took another drinks break, and Crewe made two more substitutions. The break didn’t change the pattern of play as Jeremy Kelly got to the left-hand by-line but his cross was too high for Darcy. The ball was reworked to Liam Kelly on the edge of the area, but his effort was tipped over the bar by Stryjek. The corner was headed away and for a moment Crewe looked to have a dangerous counterattack but a good tackle re-won possession for Crawley and they forced another corner.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Rowe cut in from the right and sent a bullet shot towards the Crawley goal, but Maguire was bravely in the way to head away. Crewe’s best chance was created in the 83^rd minute. Kirk floated a ball into the Crawley area for Demetriou to run onto but his header from a tight angle was pushed away by Addai at close range, who then claimed the loose ball.

It was to be an important miss as two minutes later Crawley doubled their lead. Conroy stepped past Nevitt and delivered a fabulous defensive splitting pass through the heart of the Crewe defence for Liam Kelly to run clear. His attempt to give Orsi a far post tap in was prevented by Demetriou, but the rebound fell kindly for Kelly, and with Stryjek on the floor having been committed to attempt to stop the ball to Orsi, Kelly placed the ball into the empty net from a tight angle. 2-0 after 85 minutes.

Crawley looked home and hosed at this point but their fans gasped when 10 minutes of added time were announced. To be fair the VAR penalty decision had taken nearly 4 minutes, and the drinks break nearly three minutes, so it wasn’t too unreasonable.

Crewe attacked for all of their lives worth, but lacked quality in the final third. Kirk played in Leigh, but his cross was appalling, then when a cross from the right reached Kirk, his volley went into the ground for an easy save for Addai. Turns then sent a long-range effort a couple of feet over the bar. Adebisi then stepped inside Adeyemo, but only to send a ball straight at Addai for another routine save.

The final minutes saw Crawley mostly time wasting near the corner flag, but Orsi surprised the Crewe backline by instead cutting back inside past two defenders, but Stryjek made a fine save to prevent another goal.

At the final whistle, Crawley had deservedly on the day achieved promotion to League One having dominated most of the game, and in Liam Kelly had by some distance the man of the match. Crewe were disappointing and didn’t really show up on the day.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa0zJPZYGVo

Crawley Town : Addai – Wright, Conroy, Maguire – Gordon ( Adeyemo ), Williams, L. Kelly, J. Kelly ( Tsaroulla ) – Campbell ( Darcy ) , Orsi, Lolos ( Roles )

Crewe Alexandra : Stryjek – Billington (Holicek ), Turns, Demetriou, Adebisi – Tracey ( Baker-Richardson ), Thomas ( Austerfield ), Rowe, Tabiner ( Leigh ) – Long ( Kirk ), Nevitt