Crawley Town v Reading FC: Match Preview

Crawley Town

Pre-season form: 4-0 (A) Burgess Hill Town, 1-3 (H) Fulham. 0-3 (H) Brighton & HA.

A couple of home losses against Championship opposition has been the main headline of Crawley's pre-season thus far. Recently relegated from League One, The Red Devils are preparing for life in the basement tier of the Football League. Their top striker Izale McLeod is expected to feature despite being linked with a move to League One, the veteran came off the bench in last week's defeat to Brighton.

Reading

Pre-season form: 2-2 (D) Thai All Stars, 0-1 (N) Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0 (A) Bristol Rovers, 1-1 (N) Swansea City.

A hamstring issue has been preventing Orlando Sa from making his first appearance in a Reading shirt, manager Steve Clarke describes the striker's progress as "on track" and the Scot expects Sa to at least travel to Sussex. Paul McShane is in a similar position while Tarique Fosu is a doubt. Hal Robson-Kanu and Jake Cooper will definitely miss the match.

Friday's game with Swansea saw the likes of Jonathan Bond, Chris Gunter, Niall Keown, and Danny Williams get 90 minutes and it could be a case of swapping with the unused substitutes for tonight's game. That would see Ali Al-Habsi and former Red Hope Akpan get game time. Aaron Kuhl and Andrija Novakovich both started on Saturday as the under-21s lost at Plymouth, which would likely rule them out of starting tonight.

Lineups From Last Game

Home: Preston, Walton ©, McNerney, Edwards, Smith, Rooney, Henderson, Young, Fenelon, Ashton, Harrold.

Away: Bond; Gunter, Obita, Ferdinand, Keown; Norwood, Tshibola, Williams; Quinn (Taylor 80), Blackman, Pogrebnyak (Samuel 72).

What The Opposition Think

Crawley boss Mark Yates was focussed on signings after the loss to Brighton, telling reporters:

"I hope we can get something sorted in the next couple of days and hopefully by Reading we will have a couple sorted.

"We need to address the full-back situation and believe me, I am trying to do the best I can.

"I am hopeful. People must be sick of me saying it, but I am doing the best I can to get the best in I can in and I am confident that hopefully will be before Reading."

Last Meeting

05/01/2013: Crawley 1-3 Reading (FA Cup third round)

Prediction

Crawley 0-2 Reading. After a wet workout against Swansea on Friday, Reading will be far from full pace tonight and in Crawley they'll come up against a squad of few familiar faces, not just to us but also to eachother. A simple dispatch should take place.