🔴 CRAWLEY TOWN v CREWE ALEXANDRA 🚂
Sky Bet League Two — Matchday 1, 2026/27
Broadfield Stadium | Saturday 15 August 2026 | Kick-off 3:00pm BST
THE HEADLINE
Season one of the Colin Kazim-Richards era starts here — for real. He steadied the ship last term, keeping Crawley up by a single point after replacing Scott Lindsey in March, and now gets a full pre-season and a squad rebuilt in his own image to work with. Fifteen new faces have arrived this summer (on top of thirteen in January), and the early signs from friendlies and the Carabao Cup have been promising.
Standing in the way on opening day: a Crewe side who have had the Reds’ number recently, unbeaten in their last five meetings and with genuine play-off ambitions of their own under Lee Bell after an 11th-place finish last season.
📋 RECENT FORM
Neither side has kicked a ball in League Two yet this season, so “form” means pre-season and the Carabao Cup.
Crawley Town
| Date | Fixture | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jul | Eastleigh | Away (friendly) | W 1–0 |
| 28 Jul | Oxford United | Away (friendly) | L 1–3 |
| 31 Jul | Reading | Home (friendly) | L 0–1 |
| Early Aug | York City | Neutral/Carabao Cup | W (advanced) |
| 9 Aug | Watford | Away, Carabao Cup R1 | L 0–1 |
Kazim-Richards was pleased with the tactical shape at Eastleigh in particular, and has used the closed-doors and cup games to bed in a large group of new signings before results “start to matter” in the league.
Crewe Alexandra
Lee Bell’s side played five pre-season friendlies (2 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat), rounding off with a goalless draw away at Chester. They then began their competitive campaign with a 2–1 Carabao Cup first-round win over Accrington Stanley (goals from Jack Lankester and Luca Moore), booking a second-round trip to Barnsley later this month. Three new faces — Joe White, Luke Offord and Jordan Gibson — have already been introduced.
Bookies’ view: the market has this close to a coin-flip (Crawley narrowly favoured), with Crewe’s recent head-to-head dominance the main reason anyone’s leaning their way at all.
⚔️ HEAD-TO-HEAD
Crewe have had genuine wood on Crawley of late — 8 wins from the last 10 meetings, with Crawley managing just 1 win and 1 draw in that span.
| Date | Fixture | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Feb 2026 | Crawley 0–1 Crewe | Crewe win |
| 16 Aug 2025 | Crewe 1–0 Crawley | Crewe win |
| 19 May 2024 | Crawley 2–0 Crewe (Wembley, League Two Play-Off Final) | Crawley win — promotion to League One |
| 10 Feb 2024 | Crewe 1–0 Crawley | Crewe win |
| 21 Oct 2023 | Crawley 2–4 Crewe | Crewe win |
The obvious highlight for Reds fans remains Wembley 2024 — Danilo Orsi and Liam Kelly on target as Crawley beat Crewe 2–0 in the play-off final to go up. Since then, though, it’s been all Railwaymen in the league fixture: both meetings last season went Crewe’s way 1–0, and Crawley haven’t tasted a home win in this fixture for a while, making today as much about breaking a psychological hold as collecting three points.
🆕 POTENTIAL DEBUTS
This is where it gets interesting for a Kazim-Richards side reshaped almost top to bottom.
Already “debuted” in the Carabao Cup — today would be their LEAGUE bow for Crawley:
- Vito Mannone (GK/player-coach) — former Sunderland and Arsenal keeper, started in goal in the cup
- Priestley Farquharson (CB) — signed from Walsall on a two-year deal, over 100 League Two appearances
- Jude Arthurs (winger) — the standout capture of the summer, title winner with Bromley last season
- Gianmarco Di Biase (striker) — Juventus academy product, returning after a loan spell at Bra
- Klaudi Krasniqi (midfielder) — arrived from Gibraltar side Glacis United, impressed in the middle of the park in pre-season
- Stephen Duke-McKenna and Malcolm Ebiowei also started that York City tie
Still waiting for a first competitive minute — genuine debut candidates if named in the matchday squad:
- Jackson Izquierdo — back-up ‘keeper, has featured in friendlies only so far
- Pele Arganese-McDermott
- Watch the teamsheet for Ty Ewens-Findlay, who as of a fortnight ago was the only summer signing yet to feature in a pre-season game in front of fans
Familiar faces expected to anchor the side: captain Charlie Barker, Louie Watson, Ade Adeyemo and Kellan Gordon were the only survivors from last season’s XI to start the York City cup tie, and look set to be the spine of the side again today.
For Crewe: Joe White, Luke Offord and Jordan Gibson were all handed debuts in the Carabao Cup win over Accrington — today marks their first League Two involvement for the club if selected.
🏥 INJURIES / TEAM NEWS
No fresh absentee news has emerged from either camp ahead of kick-off — pre-match trackers currently list both sides with a clean bill of health, which fits a squad that’s had a full pre-season to build fitness. Worth noting Crewe carried a lengthy injury list at points last season, but nothing has been reported this week to suggest anyone carries that into the new campaign. As ever, worth a check of the official teamsheets an hour before kick-off for any late change.
🎯 THE BIG PICTURE
- Crawley: 22nd in League Two last season, safe by a single point, now with a settled full-time head coach and a squad he’s built himself. Kazim-Richards has talked about making Broadfield Stadium “a fortress” this season — today’s the first test of that.
- Crewe: 11th last season under Lee Bell, eyeing a push toward the play-offs, and travelling with real confidence given their recent record in this exact fixture.
Under 2.5 goals and a tight, cagey opener wouldn’t shock anyone given how League Two curtain-raisers tend to go — but with this many new faces on show for Crawley, there’s just as good a chance the afternoon throws up a surprise or two.
Come On You Reds 🔴
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