Harrogate Town v Crawley Town: Can Reds combine a solid defensive display with their unstoppable forward line?

One thing that’s almost certain from this game is that it can’t get much more entertaining than Crawley’s encounter last Sunday at Torquay. The 11-goal thriller will go down as an all-time great FA Cup tie that Crawley somehow managed to win, despite only leading for two minutes of the game. SEE ALSO Crawley Town star nominated for October Sky Bet League Two Player of the Month award | Crawley Town fans react to FA Cup second round draw | Crawley Town to face Barrow or AFC Wimbledon in FA Cup second round As a result of the victory Reds earned an away trip to either Barrow or AFC Wimbledon in round two and if they win that will be in round three, where the Premier League and Championship teams enter the competition. However, until then Crawley’s focus will be just on their league campaign, as their next challenge is Harrogate, who have begun life in the EFL brightly. Harrogate started the season very well but haven’t managed to pick up a victory in the league in their last four games. They did however progress to the second round of the FA Cup, with victory over Skelmersdale United, where they beat the non-league side 4-1. That would have restored some confidence back in the Harrogate camp, who will be looking to pick up only their second victory in league football on their home turf. Despite playing five home games this season, only three have been played in Harrogate with two being played in Doncaster, due to work going on with the pitch at the CNG Stadium. Of these three games played at their own stadium they have won one, drawn one and lost one, all of which providing very few goals. Only two goals were scored across those three games, and this has largely been Harrogate’s issues so far this season. However, what they’ve been lacking going forward they’ve made up for defensively, limiting teams to very few chances and therefore conceding very few goals. This will prove a challenge for Crawley to break their opponents down but if any team knows where the back of the net is, it’s certainly Crawley at the moment. Scoring six away at Torquay is some achievement and is a credit to their attacking play but conceding five is an issue that needs to be sorted as they can’t be giving away cheap goals like they did. If Crawley’s defence can remain tight, as it looked prior to the madness at Torquay they’ll give themselves an excellent chance at winning the game. With Max Watters, Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols all on fire at the moment it’s looking like Crawley are unstoppable going forward. If this is combined with a solid defensive display, you feel it could end in Crawley giving a team another thumping, as they did to Tranmere and Morecambe.