Salford City host Crawley Town at the Peninsula Stadium this Saturday for match week two of the 2023/24 League Two season. The hosts opened their league campaign with a win and after a midweek penalty shootout win momentum may be on their side. Crawley also started their season with a win but faltered in the League Cup, making a win this weekend even more of a priority.
The Ammies sit an impressive fourth in League Two after one game, behind MK Dons, Accrington Stanley and Sutton United purely on goal difference. The top of the league is tight with only one game having been played, but Salford impressed by being one of only five teams with a win to not concede.
The opening game for Salford was an away trip to Forest Green Rovers. After a goalless first half, Conor McAleny opened the scoring early in the second half, followed by Matt Smith securing all three points with a goal in the 95th minute giving Salford a 2 - 0 win in their first game of the season.
In the First Round of the League Cup, Salford made a midweek trip to Championship side Preston North End. Connor McLennan put Salford into a commanding lead with a first half brace but Ben Woodburn managed to get one back for Preston just before halftime. Duane Holmes scored for Preston early in the second half, and without answer from Salford, sent the tie to penalties. After Ryan Ledson missed Preston’s first spot kick, Salford scored all four of theirs meaning that Mads Frokjaer’s miss gave Salford the 4 - 2 win.
Crawley sit in ninth in League Two after their season opener left them with all three points. However, due to their inferior goal difference of just one, Crawley sit last of those who picked up a win in their first game.
The Red Devils hosted Bradford City for their opening game of the season. Will Wright scored his first goal of the season in the 14th minute giving Crawley an early lead. However, this game further fell in Crawley’s favour when Daniel Oyegoke was shown a red card after picking up two yellow cards for fouls just before halftime.
Crawley drew League One side Exeter City in the First Round of the League Cup where the last stages were the deciding factor. Klaidi Lolos gave Crawley an early lead in the game, one they held onto into the closing 20 minutes. However, goals from Kyle Taylor and James Scott scored for Exeter and booked their spot in the Second Round with a 2 - 1 win.
Salford and Crawley have met just eight times in their histories, the first coming only four years ago in 2019. The visitors do have the upper hand in the fixture having won on four occasions, three of those coming in the last five meetings. Salford have beaten Crawley just once back in early 2022, making a Crawley win a likely outcome of this weekend’s clash.
However, one recurring feature of this fixture is a high scoreline with the last two meetings having four and five goals respectively.