Port Vale v Crawley Town preview: Can Reds pick up points in tough season opener?

Crawley return to league football after a long off season, after the 2019/20 season was curtailed.
Sam Ashford scored on his competitive debut for Crawley TownSam Ashford scored on his competitive debut for Crawley Town
Sam Ashford scored on his competitive debut for Crawley Town

The season ended with Crawley sitting in 12th in League Two and on a four-game unbeaten run.

Crawley looked to be climbing the table and were looking at a top 10 finish before their campaign was abruptly curtailed. Crawley finished 13th in League Two due to points per game being used to decide where each team finished in the league table. However, this new season will be John Yems’ first full season in charge of the Reds and he will look to build on the positive start he had in charge of Crawley.

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The squad has lost some key players from last season with Ollie Palmer joining AFC Wimbledon, Bez Lubala joining Blackpool and Panutche Camara joining Plymouth Argyle. All three players were regular starters under Yems, and Crawley will have had a tricky time replacing them.

The club has made several transfers in order to try and replace these players. One of these new signings was Sam Ashford, who found himself on the score sheet in Crawley’s first competitive game this season, which ended in a 3-1 defeat to Championship side Millwall. Ashford has come in as a player who will look to score goals from either the wing, as he was used against Millwall, or as a striker where he can also play.

On Monday Crawley also completed the signing of Tom Nichols, following his release from Bristol Rovers. Nichols could become Ashely Nadesan's strike partner for the season, replacing Ollie Palmer. Crawley fans felt after the Millwall game Crawley needed to sign a striker to partner Nadesan, as he seemed very isolated for most of the game. Other new signings for Crawley include Sam Matthews, Tyler Frost, Tony Craig and Jake Hessenthaler.

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Crawley’s opponents for their first league game are Port Vale, who narrowly missed out on the play offs last season. Vale finished last season just outside the play offs and furious that the season was curtailed as they believed they would’ve reached the play offs.

They’ll look to better themselves this season and make those play off places. They’ve made some decent additions to their side with the likes of Theo Robinson and Devante Rodney joining the club. Robinson proved to be a deadly League Two striker last campaign as he scored 11 goals in 28 games for Colchester United. Robinson could be a key component in Port Vale’s promotion push as Port Vale struggled slightly for goals last season. Their top scorer Tom Pope managed 6 goals in League Two and 10 goals in all competitions.

It’s a tough opener for Crawley travelling to Stoke-On-Trent to face Port Vale but John Yems and the players will hope they can at least pick up some points on the opening day.