Crawley Town will travel to Rodney Parade on Monday to face Newport County in the first of three successive away contests for the West Sussex side in League Two.
Newport failed to hang onto a 1-0 half-time advantage on Friday, losing 2-1 to Colchester United, while the Red Devils suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Doncaster Rovers.
Match preview
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They began the month of March with a two-match losing run and ended it the same way, with Newport County currently sitting 12th in League Two.
As a result, Graham Coughlan's men are five points back of Gillingham for the final promotional playoff berth, though they do have a game in hand on the Gills.
Four of their last six domestic affairs have been decided by a single goal, and unfortunately for the Exiles, they were on the losing end all four times.
Since Coughlan took charge last October, this team have never lost three successive matches in this competition, while their defeat on Friday was only the second time this year that they had failed to win a domestic contest after scoring the opening goal.
In two of their last three domestic home fixtures, the Port have come away with all three points while earning at least a point in eight of their last 10 league contests played at Rodney Parade.
They have not beaten Crawley Town in a League Two affair since claiming a 2-0 triumph against them at home during the 2020-21 campaign.
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Despite having the bulk of the possession (66%) and a man advantage for over 20 minutes, Crawley failed to make any progress in their quest to be promoted on Friday.
Since the start of February, Scott Lindsey's men have won just two matches at home in this competition, but they are still very much in the thick of the playoff battle, with two games in hand on Gillingham.
Perhaps it is a good thing that four of their remaining seven contests will be away from home, where Crawley have won four of their last five matches in this competition, entering this encounter on a two-game winning run as the visitors.
Only two of their final seven League Two fixtures this season will be against sides currently above them in the table (Wrexham and Mansfield Town), with this team losing only once away from home in 2024 versus teams currently below them (1-0 to Morecambe).
The Red Devils claimed seven points domestically in March when conceding the opening goal, while they have lost just one encounter this year when scoring first (2-1 to Morecambe in February).
They have at least a point in five consecutive League Two meetings with Newport County, losing just one of their previous five visits to Rodney Parade (2-0 in April 2021).
Team News
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On Friday, Newport were once again without Omar Bogle, as their leading goalscorer from a season ago is nearing a return from a muscle injury.
There were three changes made to the Newport starting 11 against Colchester, with Offrande Zanzala, Matt Baker and Matty Bondswell coming into the lineup in place of Seb Palmer-Houlden, Harrison Bright and Adam Lewis, with Zanzala notching the only goal in their defeat on Friday.
Ben Gladwin was unavailable for Crawley Town against Doncaster due to an injury, while Dion Conroy was on the bench and Liam Kelly played the final few minutes in place of Will Wright, with Conroy and Kelly questionable heading into their previous encounter because of minor knocks.
Danilo Orsi only found the back of the net once for the Red Devils in March, but he still leads the team with 16 goals domestically this season.
Newport County possible starting lineup:
Townsend; Baker, Bennett, Jameson; Payne, Morris, Palmer-Houlden, Charsley, Waite; Evans, Zanzala
Crawley Town possible starting lineup:
Addai; Wright, Mukena, Maguire; Roles, Williams, Lolos, Tsaroulla; Darcy, L. Kelly; Orsi
We say: Newport County 1-1 Crawley Town
There should be plenty of urgency from both sides given that each are still in the hunt for a playoff berth, but we do not believe either team will have a decisive edge on Monday, seeing as only four points currently separate them in the standings.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
