EFL League 2: Crawley Town 3-1 Colchester United

1st January 2022

Crawley Town vs Colchester United @ Broadfield Stadium - Crawley

EFL League Two

15:00 KO

£22 entry (seated ticket)

Attendance - 2,022 (373 away fans)

Half-time score: Crawley Town 2-0 Colchester United

Goals:

Crawley Town: Nadesan - 15'

Crawley Town: Lynch - 37'

Crawley Town: Nadesan - 55'

Colchester United: Sears - 79'

Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVSCTiskwl0

Final Score: Crawley Town 3-1 Colchester United

Feeling a little bit worse for wear after a New Year's celebration at a good friends house in Redhill, we decided to stick with the original plan and head to the Colchester United away tie at Crawley Town, only a short train ride away, fuelled by a fry-up and Lucozade Sport. It was a big game for Colchester United, with hosts Crawley also struggling towards the bottom of the League 2 table. Since I last saw Colchester, where they narrowly lost to Wigan Athletic, they had been thumped by Walsall away so my optimism was somewhat restrained, a draw sounding good to me.

After a short train ride, bypassing Gatwick Airport, we were in Crawley and although a bit early, we headed straight for the ground. The walk was fairly pleasant, through leafy residential areas, and past a nice looking pub called The New Moon. Although tempted, we decided to get to the ground to buy our tickets, and check out the bar. The stadium soon came into view, the first hint was a giant red and white football sitting in the middle of a roundabout.

Shortly afterwards, after going through a nicely painted, unusually welcoming underpass, we were at the stadium.

Whilst on the small side, it looked tidy and well kept, and getting tickets was a doddle. Due to the aforementioned hangovers, we stretched the budget to the seated area, on hindsight a wise choice. On the way to the bar, I picked up a programme, again, I was thrilled to see physical programmes on offer, only £3 and of high quality, like the other EFL programmes I have picked up recently, a decent half-time read.

We headed to Redz Bar, and it was a good venue, decent size, had a large choice of drinks and was buzzing, a nice mix of Colchester and Crawley fans with no hint of a bad atmosphere, how football should be. I went for a San Miguel in the hope that it would perk me up a bit, and to be fair it went down nicely.

We headed to the gates, nice clunky turnstiles, and the inside exceeded my expectations, the playing surface was immaculate, and the stadium was well kept, and fans were very close to the field. We had to walk to the other side of the pitch to get to our seats, and we went right by the Col U lads warming up (see cover pic). We made our way to our seats and soaked up the atmosphere. The view was generally good, but the stand we were in was more like a large marquee, and as such, the view was marginally obscured by the supports.

It was not long until the game kicked-off, and we were treated to a frantic first 5 minutes. Crawley had an early corner, and striker Nichols headed goalbound which forced a good save from Turner, and at the other end of the pitch, there was a penalty shout as Dobra was taken down in the area, but to me he did appear to go down a little easily. Shortly after, an incisive through-ball from Sears put Judge through 1-on-1, but keeper Morris closed him down quickly and blocked his effort. After this excellent opportunity, Crawley lifted their game and began to dominate proceedings, and eventually broke through in the 15th minute, through some completely shambolic defending from the Col U backline. Striker Nichols linked well with Nadesan as they broke through multiple missed tackles, and deflections, eventually culminating with Nichols breaking down the left. He deftly delivered a ball towards the penalty spot, and Nadesan ran on and headed home, completely unmarked. He ran over to the Col U fans in the terrace and cupped his ears in response to abuse he received 5 mins after he horribly sliced a cross over the stand and out the stadium, a moment that seems to have got him fired up.

Crawley nearly got a 2nd shortly afterwards, the Colchester team were in shock and half a yard of the pace, losing all the 2nd and 3rd balls and getting run ragged, and pressed quickly when they did eventually get the ball. Crawley attacked quickly, and Appiah was put through and what looked to be a certain goal was kept out by a another brilliant save from Turner. Colchester did manage to carve out a rare chance however, good work from Tchamadeu playing in Dobra, for his cross to go out for a corner. From the set-piece, Judge delivered a good ball to the towering captain Tommy Smith, who was completely unmarked, but the ball just grazed the top of his head and sailed out harmlessly wide, another huge opportunity that went begging for the U's.

Shortly after this, Crawley bagged their second goal, courtesy of some more calamitous defending. A long range free-kick was headed across goal by a Col U defender, Crawley recycled and dinked a ball into the centre of the box, and the hulking centre back Francillette nodded the ball down to Lynch, who looked offside as played on by Skuse, who was sitting deep on his own for some reason, and he smashed the ball home from 3 yards out, and things were not looking good for the visitors, much to my dismay.

Whilst Col U were defending poorly, they did look dangerous when attacking, but they were falling foul of some poor officiating at times, it has to be said. Sears was clearly taken out in the box around the 40 minute mark but the referee waved played on, much to my surprise, it looked a dead-cert from where I was sitting. There were also a lot of moments when Crawley players were offside, or taking down players, and nothing was being given, a theme that followed in the 2nd half, which could not have come sooner for Col U as they clung on to a two goal deficit.

In the 2nd half, Dobra was taken off, replaced by Chambers to shore up the defence moving to a 3-4-3, which seemed a sensible move, especially as Dobra was losing a lot of possession, being bullied off the ball repeatedly. Col U started brighter, and Wiredu was played in, but the linesman, who was several yards behind play, inexplicably waved for offside. I was directly in line with Wiredu and he timed his run to perfection, and was not off for me, so the abuse he received was just on this occasion. As per the pattern of the 1st half, every time Col U had a great chance to score, Crawley showed them how to do it up the other end. Appiah whipped in a pinpoint cross from the right flank for unmarked Nadesan to nod home his second, crazy as Col U had 3 centre backs on, so this should not have been allowed to happen.

Col U looked dead and buried, but the introduction of Sylvester Jasper did help give extra threat to the attacking line. Immediately, he whipped in a brilliant ball into the box, behind the Crawley back line, and the on-rushing Judge hit the ball first time, opting to hit it low with the side of his foot, but Morris got down to make a fine reaction save with his leg to deny him for a second time of the afternoon. Following the pattern, Crawley almost immediately went 4-0 up, having two excellent chances, Lynch blasting over in front of an open goal from 5 yards out, and a Powell free-kick just outside the area smashing the crossbar and out.

After this, Crawley took off a couple of players, and their intensity dropped, allowing Col U to dominate the final 20 minutes. Col U fought hard, and created a lot of good chances, Sears had a chance to shoot but the ball got tangled in his feet, Jasper whipped in another sublime ball, Wiredu beat the offside trap but his header was straight at Morris. They did eventually break through, when Jasper picked up a stray ball, skilfully chipped over a Crawley defender, burst into the box and fired in a low ball for Sears to side foot home, off the inside of the upright. Sears should have had a penalty moments later, a Judge corner was helped on by the head of Chambers, and Sears was open to nod home, but he was held and pulled back by Powell so could not reach the ball, but for some reasons the referee and linesman deemed this to be ok. If Col U got the penalty, the game would have been 3-2 with over 5mins still to play, so a point could have been on the cards. But alas, it was not to be, Col U fought hard to the end, Jasper and Wiredu in particular starining every sinew, and there was a chance on the edge of the box where Col U players collided and no shot went off, and another where Jasper played in a perfect ball for fellow substitute Hannant, but he overstretched and hit the ball over and out of the ground, and that pretty much summed up Col U's afternoon.

The Col U first half performance, particular defensively, was awful, and the 4-2-3-1 formation allowed Crawley to dominate the midfield. The Col U players also looked lethargic and a bit stunned, I think somewhat down to the intense Crawley press and their physicality, they were a big powerful team! Despite the awful play at times, Col U did create good chances, and on another day, they could have taken home some points, and they did deserve if not 1, then 2 penalties, which would have changed the complexion of the game. The 3-4-3 formation worked a lot better, and I think a 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 could also suit the team more than the tired 4-2-3-1 they seem to stick with all the time. Jasper was excellent today, clear Col U man-of-the-match for me, and the performances of Wiredu, Sears, Judge and Tchamadeu were also encouraging. I hope to see a better performance at the home game against Barrow in a couple of weeks, one I will hopefully be attending.

Looking at Crawley, I was thoroughly impressed with the ground and the facilities, and their team and style of play, and I hope that they go on to have a good season, just not at the expense of Col U of course. But all-in-all, it was an excellent day out, and a perfect antidote to a New Year hangover, I do hope to return to this ground one day. In the meantime, Colchester have a Papa John's game to worry about against Sutton United. Hopefully this proves to be a nice distraction. UP THE U's!!!!

Line-Ups:

CRAWLEY TOWN: Glenn Morris, Ludwig Francillette, Tony Craig, Joel Lynch, James Tilley, George Francomb (C), Jack Powell, Will Ferry, Tom Nichols, Ashley Nadesan, Kwesi Appiah. SUBS: Reece Grego-Cox, Samuel Mathews, Sam Ashford, Amrit Bansal-McNulty, Blondy Nna Noukeu, Mark Marshall.

COLCHESTER UNITED: Jake Turner, Cameron Coxe, Tommy Smith (C), Tom Eastman, Junior Tchamadeu, Brendan Wiredu, Cole Skuse, Armando Dobra, Alan Judge, Noah Chilvers, Freddie Sears. SUBS: Luke Chambers, Luke Hannant, Sylvester Jasper, Gene Kennedy, Samson Tovide, Chay Cooper, Ted Collins.