Two teams hoping to make a late surge for the League Two playoffs will meet each other on Tuesday night as Crawley Town make the trip to face Salford City in their latest fixture.
Each club heads into the match on the back of consecutive wins, and they will be hoping to extend that to three in a bid to put more pressure on those above them.
Match preview
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Salford City fought back from behind on Saturday to keep their playoff hopes alive as they defeated Walsall 2-1, despite Rollin Menayese giving their opponents the lead.
Goals from Matthew Smith and Ryan Watson got them back into the game and secured the three points, which kept them just seven away from where they want to be in the top seven.
The Ammies are currently undefeated in their previous nine outings, and with games in hand on those above them, they will have no shortage of confidence that reaching the playoffs is attainable.
Salford have won seven of their 19 games away from home this season, which is something they will be hoping to improve upon, starting this Tuesday when they face Crawley.
However, despite the fact that Ian Henderson gave them an early lead the last time these two teams met, it was the Reds who ended up with all three points as they fought back to win 2-1.
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Crawley Town currently find themselves 12th in the table, but with only 12 points separating them and the playoffs, the squad still have the belief they can close the gap.
With a game in hand on many of those above them, there is an added confidence for the Reds that they will want to take into the final matches of the season to try and sneak in at the last second.
After a period of four fixtures without three points, Crawley got back to winning ways recently, and they now head into Tuesday on the back of consecutive victories.
Lewis Young's team defeated Rochdale on Saturday by a goal to nil, with Ashley Nadesan's strike being enough to separate the two, helping their quest for promotion.
The Reds have had mixed form at home overall, winning and losing seven times, while they have also drawn 10 matches, which is a record the squad would like to improve upon before the end of this campaign.
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Team News
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Salford are currently without their first-choice goalkeeper Tom King due to international duty, which has forced Gary Bowyer into making a change, with Frank Fielding stepping in.
Ibou Touray is also representing his country at the moment, and it was Corrie Ndaba who stepped in his place on Saturday against Walsall at left-back.
The hosts also have a lengthy injury list as Ash Eastham, Josh Morris, Luke Burgess, Conor McAleny, Liam Shephard and Henderson are all unavailable right now.
Sam Matthews was recently recalled to the Crawley Town squad, ending his loan spell with Aldershot Town, and he now finds himself as an option for the Reds moving forwards.
Nicholas Tsaroulla and Tony Craig remain injury concerns for them as both are set to be unavailable, while Jack Powell continued to be on the sidelines as well.
Salford City possible starting lineup:
Fielding; Ndaba, Turnbull, Vassell, Lowe; Kelly, Lund, Watson; Thomas-Asante, Hunter, Smith
Crawley Town possible starting lineup:
Morris; Francillette, Tunnicliffe, Francomb; Tilley, Payne, Hessenthaler, Ferry; Appiah, Nichols, Nadesan
We say: Salford City 2-1 Crawley Town
Both teams are hoping to make a late surge towards the playoff positions, but it is Salford City who are in much stronger form right now, and that could be enough to get them all three points here.
Gary Bowyer has got his team firing on all cylinders lately from both an attacking and defensive perspective, and that is something that should help them here.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Salford City win with a probability of 53.37%. A draw had a probability of 24.4% and a win for Crawley Town had a probability of 22.24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Salford City win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.84%) and 2-1 (9.64%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.59%), while for a Crawley Town win it was 0-1 (6.98%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Salford City in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Salford City.
