Carlisle United v Crawley Town preview: Can Reds stop Carlisle's 'Beech ball'?

The Reds haven’t been at it since their break due to COVID-19 cases and face a tricky task against one of the league’s strongest sides.

Carlise have been flying this season and although they currently sit 6th, prior to their fixture on Tuesday night, they have between two and four games in hand on all the teams above them. These fixtures could fire them to the top of League Two, should they pick up at least 6 points from the games in hand.

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The Cumbrians have been playing some brilliant football this season and have certainly been one of the best teams Crawley have seen at the People’s Pension Stadium this season, when they smashed Crawley 3-0.

Chris Beech has got them playing brilliant football, branding their style of play as ‘beech ball’. They are a very good footballing side who also have the physical side of the game, as they outclassed Crawley all over the pitch in the reverse fixture. They also tend to utilise a long throw, which Crawley have struggled to defend against this season, with numerous teams using the tactic against Crawley.

This is a threat that Crawley need to be defensively aware of and prepare themselves for, or it could easily end up in a Carlisle goal.

The Red Devils are looking to end a run of poor games and performances, so playing a team flying high may not be exactly what Crawley would have wanted. It’s a sticky patch of form in what has otherwise been a good season and it seems to be the first run of four games consecutively where Crawley have played poorly and not got results since John Yems took over as manager back in December 2019.

It shouldn’t be anything to be too concerned about but Crawley do need to get back to the form they were on before the COVID break or they’ll risk going the wrong way down the table and have to start looking over their shoulder.

However, with the league being so tight this season a few wins would see them right back in the play-off mix.

Crawley seemed to miss Jordan Tunnicliffe massively in the heart of defence last week, and the Reds will be hoping he is back fit for the contest on Saturday. It’ll be a big ask for Crawley to come away with a result from a place they are traditionally poor at and against one of the best sides in the league while finding themselves in poor form but if they do pick up something it will be the perfect chance to find momentum once more.