Crawley Town v Bristol City Betting Odds

By Richard Norton
On Saturday 7^th January, Crawley Town will play host to Bristol City in the FA Cup Third Round at The Broadfield Stadium.

Crawley Town, of League Two in the English football pyramid, have had a fantastic yet widely anticipated start to the season by topping the pile and sitting proudly in first place. This in contrast to their opposition, Bristol City, who have found themselves lingering at the other end of the Championship table.

Crawley Town have shown few signs of faltering in their mission to take the League Two crown, following last season’s success of winning the Blue Square Premier title by a record-breaking 15 points.  Crawley have been the subject of much talk regarding the finances available to the Sussex based side and this has certainly resulted in one of the strongest squads the fourth tier of English Football has ever seen.  They have won 10 of their 13 home games this season, as well as scoring an impressive 29 goals.  On top of this, it has been 33 games since Crawley Town last incurred a no score draw.

Things haven’t been as enjoyable for Bristol City this season; they have lost half of their 24 league games, as well as losing their opening match in the League Cup, 1-0 at home to League Two Swindon Town.  Goals haven’t exactly been free-flowing but they have been shared around, with Maynard topping the charts with 7 goals.  Looking at Bristol City’s recent away record, it has been a real mixture to say the least.  The Robins have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 of their last 6 away games, including beating league leaders Southampton, 1-0, which saw Bristol City complete a league double.

Steve Evans’ Crawley are yet to concede a goal in the FA Cup and have already scored 7 goals from their 2 games, including a hat-trick for top scorer Matt Tubbs, against Dagenham & Redbridge.  They also have a good track record in the competition, after last year reaching the third round as a non-league outfit and really pushing Manchester United at Old Trafford, before narrowly losing 1-0.  However, for Bristol City, last season’s FA Cup provided a miserable 3-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Match Winner

Having considered all of this season’s current form, recent history in the competition and the players Crawley have at their disposal despite their level; I can only see Crawley coming out of this victorious.

With this in mind, Crawley have been placed slight favourites by most betting companies and the best odds can be found at 2.60 (8/5) with SkyBet.

A Bristol City victory is best priced at 2.88 (15/8) with Bet 365, while a draw is 3.30 (23/10) with Bet365 or Sky Bet.

First Goalscorer

Crawley have got four quality strikers at the club, but their two top scorers with 29 goals between them already are Matt Tubbs and Tyrone Barnett and will surely start in attack.  Tubbs is priced at 6.50 (11/2) with William Hill and you will find Barnett at 7.00 (6/1) at Paddy Power.

Despite this, Bristol City striker Nicky Maynard is the favourite to score first with the bookies at 6.00 (5/1) through William Hill or Paddy Power, and has 7 league goals so far this season.  However, he has only found the net once in his last 7 appearances.

Recommended Bets

First Goalscorer: Matt Tubbs, 6.50 (11/2) @ William Hill

Correct Score: 3-1 Crawley Town, 31.00 (30/1) 188BET