Crawley Town

Saturday 4th Sept - Conf Premier
Crawley Town 1 v Fleetwood Town 1
Attendance: 1637  Admission: £14
Ground :  3 sides only , but well laid out.
Food/Drink: Chips £1Coffee £1 - Choc bar 60p
Total Mileage: 89
Conditions :  Perfect

View Crawley pics (30).                                       
Short Vids of Crawley v Fleetwood

I had been to the Broadfield Stadium , home of Crawley Town Fc on three other occasions, the last one being about three years ago , so a return was due especially with the Cod Army in Town.The Reds have been the talk of the town this season for signing 17 new players for some very high fees by non league standards. Hence the trip today with Linda (my sat nav) but this time with the camera.

For some reason all visitors must buy a ticket in the booths located in the car park and not at the turnstiles like before. When i asked why , i was told because of some 'dodgy' people all the gate money wasn't reaching where it should . Probally in Manager Steve Evans' back pocket !!!

I decided to pop into the REDZ Bar for a quick drink before going inside and it was already well populated by both sets of fans, with not a hint of trouble which is nice to see.

As the fans were segregated i decided to stand with the Fleetwood fans - The Cod Army were a hundred strong today , not bad considering a 600 mile round trip. The match started very brightly and Crawley should of scored within 45 seconds and then a minute later the Fleetwood goalie came for to punch a ball clear on the edge of his own box and smashed through 4 players and fell badly - his match was already over after less than 2 minutes !

The Cod Army were in Town

After a delay for the goalie a few minutes later Crawley were 1-0- up scored by the impressive Number 14 Macallister - he won every header for his team and was a right handful for Fleetwood. The after about ten minutes Crawley had an attack Macallister held the ball up well (see pic below) was being challenged when suddenly a Fleetwood Fan jumped in front of me and went beserk "kill the f****er , smash the C*** and break his legs " !!! The guy was freaking out over nothing , the delicious waft of stale beer from this lovely character's breath passed under my nose ... it explained everything !

Fleetwood worked hard and got a deserved goal on 25 mins by new signing Viera - he also had a great chance early in the second half but it hit the bar.
The rest of the match was very even and the second half proved a little disappointed for excitment ,but a draw was a fair result -Both defenses were on top. The Cod Army applauded their team at the end for the effort shown ,so in the ended everyone went home satisfied.