Crawley Town vs Yeovil Town Predictions

Manager Gabriele Cioffi has made a positive start to his Crawley career, with a 2-0 home win against Morecambe followed by a tight loss to Forest Green Rovers.

In the match against Forest Green Rovers, Crawley did well to hold out against a strong opponent, creating a number of chances and playing some good, passing football at times. However, they were outdone by a deflected strike from Rueben Reid and came away with nothing. Despite this, it was not the worst result and there is some improvement in the way the team play from when Harry Kewell was in charge. This was further  exhibited in the comfortable win against Morecambe in Cioffi’s first game. They had more possession and looked a threat going forward, being rewarded eventually with two second-half goals.

Indeed, this performance had come off the back of one of League Two’s results of the season so far, as Crawley beat league leaders Lincoln 1-0 away. The team had been under the guidance of two senior players, Jimmy Smith and Filipe Morais, after the departure of former manager Harry Kewell and, although they were under pressure for most of the match, they took all three points home. It bodes well for the team that they have leaders in the squad like Smith and Morais who can keep heads up if results don’t go their way.

Under Kewell in the opening stages of the season, it had been an inconsistent start, with two wins, two losses, and one draw. The hope must be that Cioffi can work on the mentality of his players and sustain a good run of form so that Crawley can challenge for the play-offs once more.

Yeovil are another team that has suffered from inconsistency in recent matches. An incredible 6-0 demolition of promotion rivals Newport County, in which the team showed fantastic movement, pace, and finishing, was followed by a dour 3-0 home loss in the West County derby to Swindon. The team had kept five clean sheets in a row but were battered from start to finish and deserved to lose by that margin.

Despite this, the performance against Newport may just have been the best so far out of any team in League Two and warrants full praise to Darren Way and his team for embracing their underdog status. Although, the ups and downs continued in midweek, with a draw against MK Dons at home. Yeovil looked poor in the first half and were lucky to be only one behind but recovered well in the second half and deserved to equalise with two minutes to go and secure a point.

However, manager Darren Way will be hoping for some stability after a variety of performance level from his team. Over the course of the season, Yeovil have punched above their weight and been largely good to watch. They had beaten Notts County 4-0 away from home, whilst had also beaten Stevenage and Grimsby Town on their way to a fifth place position after nine matches. Yeovil have made an early case to be considered one of the strongest sides in the division thus far.

We think, though, that Crawley will win this match to continue Yeovil’s recent inconsistency. There is still a buzz around the club with the appointment of the new manager, as well as wins against Lincoln and Morecambe. However, Yeovil have pulled off some great away wins with exquisite performances, so backing Crawley to win & BTTS looks to be a winner. It should be a close match and with Yeovil playing an extra game this week, Crawley do look like they have the edge in this match, so a 2-1 correct score-line seems appropriate.