Crawley Town v Carlisle United preview: Can Reds stop prolific Dennis as Blues visit Broadfield?

The Reds’ 1-0 defeat at league leaders Leyton Orient saw Hartlepool United leapfrog them due to a stoppage time equaliser at AFC Wimbledon.

Things won’t get much easier for Crawley this weekend as third-placed Carlisle come to West Sussex looking to keep themselves in the automatic promotion places.

The sides met on the opening day of the season as the Cumbrians ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a Kristian Dennis goal just five minutes in.

Dennis has kicked on to have an amazing campaign so far this season, with 17 league goals to his name; the joint highest in the division.

Not only have Carlisle found an incredible goal scorer this season but they also have a fantastic creative player in Owen Moxon.

The 25-year-old created the goal against Crawley on the opening day and has gone on to get 10 league assists so far this season, making him the joint highest for assists in the league.

The Blues obviously have a strong attacking threat and have got the joint most goals in the league, alongside Mansfield.

That doesn’t bode well for a Crawley side who have conceded the joint third most number of goals in the league this season and haven’t kept a clean sheet since early December.

The Red Devils are really struggling at the moment and injuries in the last week to Nick Tsaroulla, Teddy Jenks and Ben Gladwin really haven’t helped them out.

Every home game is crucial now for Crawley and with their next three after this coming away from the Broadfield Stadium they need to get something out of the game.

It will be a tough test but Scott Lindsey’s side need to be picking up points and quickly to get themselves out the drop zone.

After Saturday, Crawley face two away trips. On Tuesday (February 28) they make the trip to The Wirrall to face Tranmere Rovers before making the shorter journey to Northampton Town the following Saturday.

ELLIOT RACCIO