After hosting Chesterfield on Tuesday 16th December, North End will again be at Deepdale to face John Gregory’s Crawley Town.
Founded: 1896
Nickname: Red Devils
Stadium: Broadfield Stadium
Manager: John Gregory
Last Season: 14th in League One
Crawley kicked off the 2013/14 season in style with a 3-2 win over Coventry City at Broadfield Stadium. After going two-nil up in the first 20 minutes of the game, Coventry got two back to level the scores with just eight minutes of the game left.
Just two minutes later Mike Jones got the winner for the Red Devils to secure their first three points of the season on the opening day.
It wasn’t until October that their form started to dip dramatically, and in the winter months, they secured just three wins out of 13 league games.
At the end of November, then manager Richie Barker was dismissed by the Club after a run of seven league games without a win, scoring just one goal in that time.
Barker had been at the Club since August 2012, but after just over a year in charge his time was up at Broadfield Stadium.
John Gregory was appointed the new manager on 3rd December 2013, and the team's form changed around under his management.
They secured a 3-2 victory away to then high-flyers Leyton Orient on 21st December and went on a to lose just two of their next 13 league games.
January caused problems for their playing schedule though, with a large number of their home games being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch thanks to the British weather.
The team were then hampered by the back log of games and had they gone on to win their games in hand, they could have been in the play-off mix by the end of the season.
It was a tough end to the season for Gregory and his players with weeks and weeks of back to back Saturday and Tuesday fixtures to fit in all of their games in hand.
They went on to lose eight of their last 12 games leaving them in mid table instead of fighting for play-offs, something they will be hoping to change this season.
There has already been lots of activity for the Red Devils so far this summer, with six players coming in since the 2013/14 campaign ended.
The same number of players have left so far, including former North End striker Jamie Proctor who has signed for newly promoted Fleetwood Town.
This fixture last time around produced a 1-0 victory for the Lilywhites back in March thanks for an early Joe Garner goal.
North End will travel to Broadfield stadium in the return fixture on Saturday 31st January, and this match last year ended in a 2-2 draw.
Simon Grayson and his side will be hoping they can better last year’s result away from home after being denied a victory last time around because of a last minute Gary Alexander equaliser.
Crawley will be hoping to better last year’s league standing, and make a push for the play-offs in their third season in the division.
Sky Bet Odds
League One Winner – 28/1
Promotion – 10/1
Relegation – 4/1
Place your bets via PNEBetting.Com, and this will benefit Preston North End when you place your bet.
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