Town V Crawley

[Bluemike]

A strike in the fifth minute by Grant Ward gave Town a 1-0 friendly victory against League Two Crawley Town, in a display that saw the Blues debut of new signing Gwion Edwards in the second half.

As the pitch at Broadfield Stadium was under renovation, and was not due to be ready until the end of July, the game was moved to East Court, the home of East Grinstead Town.

There was a place on the bench for new signing Edwards against his old club, with another ex-Red Devils player in Jordan Roberts alongside him.

Having made his first appearance in almost a year in the defeat at Braintree, midfielder Andre Dozzell was given a starting place along with Luke Woolfenden and Tristan Nydam. However, both Tom Adeyemi and Joe Garner remained absent.

Town set up 4-2-3-1, with Waghorn up top, Dozzell playing deep alongside Skuse, and Sears on the right – a switch from Saturday - of the three with Ward on the left and Nydam in the centre.

Seeking an improvement after the disappointing display in Essex, Town made their intentions known as early as the third minute, when Freddie Sears pounced onto a backheel by Martyn Waghorn to bear down on goal – however, his effort was matched by Crawley keeper Glenn Morris.

The home shotstopper was beaten two minutes later, when Grant Ward picked up a through ball by Waghorn on the edge of the box, and placed his effort past the outstretched goaltender to open the scoing.

Town were almost caught napping five minutes later, when Lewis Young was allowed to cross in from the right hand flank, to find the head of Reece Grego-Cox who had slipped inbetween both central defenders. It was left to Dean Gerken to palm away a point blank header and away to safety.

The game was already proving to be an open one, and on 13 minutes Nydam beat the offside trap down the left side to quickly deliver a low cross into the area for Waghorn, but he put his first time effort just over the crossbar.

The amount of chances at either end dropped off, although Town were looking a sharper and more composed side than the one at Braintree.

Waghorn was able to foil the Crawley defence when he picked up a through ball by Cole Skuse with seven minutes remaining. With Morris coming out of his area to narrow his angle, Waghorn was wasteful with his lob, which landed tamely wide of the goalposts.

The striker was denied the goal his play deserved two minutes before the break, when after picking up a pass from Nydam, he was able to cut inside and curl a fine strike from just inside the box.

However, although his effort beat the outstretched Morris, Crawley defender Mark Connolly was able to stop the ball on the line.

Edwards made his debut for Town as he came on for the second half alongside Flynn Downes, replacing Waghorn and Dozzell respectively.
It was a second half of few chances, although Town continued to look comfortable.

The Welshman showed supporters a brief glimpse of his pace six minutes after the restart, when he ran from almost inside the Ipswich box to the halfway line, before being upended.

Indeed, the 25-year old appeared to be a target for the Crawley defenders, finding himself on the floor after a couple of tough challenges.

Myles Kenlock made way for Josh Emmanuel on 77 minutes, while Roberts replaced Nydam and close to the end Ben Folami came on for Grant Ward, whose goal proved to be decisive.

Crawley: Morris, Young, Doherty, Payne, Connolly, Palmer, Grego-Cox, Bulman, Young, Whelpdale, Allalukhia. Second-half subs: Mersin, McNerney, Francomb, Randall, Camara, Briggs, Sessay, Milsom, Turley (46). Poleon, Mammou (67).

Town: Gerken, Spence, Kenlock (Emmanuel 78), Chambers (c), Wolfenden, Ward (Folami 86), Dozzell (Downes 46) Skuse, Nydam (Roberts 78), Waghorn (Edwards 46), Sears. Unused: Wright.

Sounds a bit more like it, while I was disappointed at Braintree Saturday I wasn't panicking just as I am not jumping up and down at this but at least it is a positive result and the performance appears to be better.

[RRanger]

I went to the game.It was obviously a much better performance than against Braintree. On a hard bumpy pitch ,in the most part we tried to play the ball on the ground ,mixing short passes with through balls and balls over the top. The defence was pretty solid (Gerken didn't have much to do).PH's comments after the Braintree game obviously had an effect as the players played their heart out. Apart from Wards early strike, which he did put away very well, we didn't overwork their goal keeper although Waghorn was very unlucky with a good strike which beat their goalkeeper but was kicked off the line by a defender. Gwion Edwards came on for the second half and immediately started running at their defence . He seems to love dribbling, taking on defenders on the outside and beating them with pace and making a number of good crosses. A target man ,I'm sure will be on PH's wishlist.
I'm not surprised that Edwards has had a number of injuries as defenders don't like being skinned! I think the ITFC fans are going to love him.
Chambers and Skuse had very solid games and played the whole match. I hadn't seen Wolfenden before and he quite impressed me although I suspect he has the odd mistake in him. Sears ran his heart out but without much end product. Nydam was everywhere in the first half and PH's comments that he needs to pace himself better was spot on. Downes looked good when he came on and I really hope he gets plenty of game time this season. I think PH will definitely play Skuse as the experienced wise old head and build a young midfield around him.

[Bluemike]

Thanks for that Ranger, always good to get the views of someone in attendance and your views certainly seem to mirror those from reports ive read. Edwards definitely sounds like an exciting prospect, I was also very impressed with Nydam when he came on at Braintree, once everyone is fit that is one area we don't have to worry about.

[marko69]

Nice report, thanks for that. I liked the part about the injuries being linked to skinning defenders...... so very true! I worry about Flynn Downes making his place permanent but being halved in two and then being out for months.

Building around Skuse? Not sure about that. Must ask Rossi.

[Bluemike]

I think Ranger is right in as much as Skuse will very much be part of the first team scene, I'm not sure why so many Town fans think his days are numbered, it certainly going to be interesting to see who is not in favour with PH.