The Bluebirds are looking to do a league double over Crawley Town as they travel away to the Red Devils tomorrow evening.
Pete Wild’s side's last runout saw them suffer a 3-0 defeat away to Gillingham after goals from Josh Andrews, Connor Mahoney, and an own goal too.
The main positive to come from Saturday’s match was that captain Niall Canavan completed his first 90 minutes in over a month, while Dean Campbell and Luca Stephenson were also both involved in Saturday's outing, having previously missed the Bluebirds' last game through injury.
Team News
Barrow are currently injury-free so they’ll only be missing George Ray who will be sidelined for the next three games following his red card on Saturday.
The Opposition
Saturday’s opposition Crawley Town currently sits in 7th place in the Sky Bet League Two table under the guidance of manager, Scott Lindsey.
Crawley appointed Lindsey in January 2023, and since the appointment he has managed 71 games, winning 29, drawing 11, and losing 31. He has maintained a win percentage of 40.8%, whilst averaging 1.4 points per game.
In their previous five league encounters, they have picked up six points, having won twice and lost three. Their last fixture ended in a narrow 2-3 home defeat against Colchester United. Their last victory came back on the 6th of April when they faced Mansfield Town away from home. They ran out 1-4 winners that day thanks to goals from Kellan Gordan, Nicholas Tsarroulla, Danilo Orsi, and Klaidi Lolos.
A star player to watch out for is striker and top scorer, Danilo Orsi. Since joining the Red Devils in the summer, he has made a total of 44 appearances, with 42 of these coming in the league. He has become an influential player at Crawley, only missing one league game whilst scoring 19 goals in all competitions.
Head-to-Head
Barrow has played Crawley a total of seven times since our return to the EFL, with three of those games ending in victory for the Bluebirds with the Reds running out victorious on four occasions.
The two sides have already faced each other this season back in November at Holker Street when the game ended 1-0 to the Bluebirds. The winning goal came from Dom Telford who picked up all three points for the Cumbrians as they extended their winning run which lasted all the way until Boxing Day when League Leader Stockport County held them at Holker Street.
Referee
Referee Sam Purkiss has been charged with taking control of the fixture on Tuesday. He has refereed 26 fixtures throughout the EFL leagues this season, with 13 of those coming in League Two. Throughout the 27 games he’s refereed, he has handed out 132 yellow cards and 11 red cards.
The last time he refereed a match featuring the Bluebirds was back in October 2022 when we fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Tranmere Rovers, thanks to an early goal from Josh Hawkes.
He will be joined by Assistant Referees, Stuart Butler and Daniel Bonneywell. Ben Atkinson will be the Fourth Official.
Words by Dylan Whitbread.
