Bristol Rovers will be looking to return to winning ways when they travel to Crawley Town in League Two on Tuesday evening.
The visitors' unbeaten run was ended at the weekend to see them fall behind in the race for the playoffs, whilst the hosts still retain a glimmer of hope of reaching the top seven despite being held to a frustrating draw.
Match preview
© Reuters
Despite creating a number of glorious opportunities on Saturday, Crawley had to settle for a goalless draw against bottom-of-the-table Scunthorpe United.
The result means that the Reds have lost just once in their last eight matches, but now with four draws during that time, it also means that they have fallen 10 points behind seventh-placed Swindon Town.
A small glimmer of hope remains for Crawley to reach the playoff places come the end of the season, but those hopes are fading as each week passes by.
Saturday was an all too familiar story for manager John Yems and his players though, as the inability to beat struggling Scunthorpe means that Crawley still boast a superior record on their travels this season when compared to their home form, despite playing one fewer away game.
Another home outing awaits at the Broadfield Stadium on Tuesday, as the hosts go in search of three valuable points required to potentially cut the gap on the sides chasing a playoff place.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers suffered a rare defeat on Saturday, with Tuesday's visitors falling to a 1-0 defeat at fellow promotion hopefuls Newport County.
An even game between two solid outfits meant that few goalscoring opportunities were created, but one goal was enough to win it for Newport, which inflicted a first defeat in seven games on Rovers.
The setback leaves the Pirates down in ninth place, but with just four points between themselves and Swindon in the final playoff spot ahead of Tuesday's match, Barton's men remain well in the mix.
Another tight game is to be expected between two similarly-matched sides once more in the week, but with fine margins likely to prove pivotal, Rovers will be hopeful that their superior record over their opponents in recent years can provide them with the edge.
Across the last nine meetings between the two sides, Rovers have suffered defeat to Crawley on just one occasion, and with three consecutive victories against their hosts, Barton will be hoping for a repeat at the Broadfield Stadium in order to get his side back to winning ways at the first time of asking.
- D
- W
- L
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
After missing out at the weekend through injury, Crawley striker Tom Nichols will need to be assessed again ahead of the visit of Bristol Rovers.
Yems will be absent from the touchline once more due to his recent ban, but ahead of kick off he will be debating whether to rotate his misfiring forward line.
With Nichols potentially absent though, the boss is left with few options up top, so Ashley Nadesan and Isaac Hutchinson could well lead the line again anyway.
As for the visitors, Connor Taylor's ankle injury will need to be assessed, after the central defender was forced off at half time on Saturday.
After rotating a number of players recently, Barton is likely to make a few changes on Tuesday, with the likes of Ryan Loft and Sam Finley potentially coming in for starts.
Alfie Kilgour and Joshua Grant remain unavailable for the visitors through injury.
Crawley Town possible starting lineup:
Morris; Davies, Tunnicliffe, Craig, Lynch, Tsaroulla; Francomb, Payne, Powell; Nadesan, Hutchinson
Bristol Rovers possible starting lineup:
Belshaw; Hoole, Taylor, Connolly, Anderton; Finley, Whelan; Nicholson, Evans, H Anderson; Loft
We say: Crawley Town 1-1 Bristol Rovers
With both sides remaining solid and hard to beat recently, with Rovers' defeat at the weekend an exception, it is likely that these two will cancel each other out on Tuesday.
Crawley continue to struggle to convert draws into wins on home soil, and we are predicting a similar scenario again against opponents that are likely to provide a response for Barton, so we believe this encounter will finish level.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Crawley Town win with a probability of 41.5%. A win for Bristol Rovers had a probability of 32.54% and a draw had a probability of 26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Crawley Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.77%) and 2-0 (7.14%). The likeliest Bristol Rovers win was 0-1 (8.68%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.34%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.6% likelihood.
