Thursday sees us head to the Peninsula Stadium for the first time at senior level as we travel to Salford City, who sit in 14th in the league.
So far this season, they have beaten Stevenage, Grimsby Town, Walsall, Cambridge United, Mansfield Town and Newport County, they have drawn with Port Vale, Plymouth Argyle, Carlisle United, Leyton Orient, Morecambe, Scunthorpe United, Macclesfield Town and Bradford City while they have lost to Crawley Town, Cheltenham Town, us, Forest Green Rovers, Northampton Town, Swindon Town, Colchester United and Exeter City.
In the cups, they lost to Leeds United in the EFL Cup 1st Round while they lost in a replay against Burton Albion at the same stage of the FA Cup. In the EFL Trophy, they finished top of their group after beating both Tranmere Rovers and Aston Villa’s Under-21 side and have beaten Wolves’ U21’s to set up a third-round game with Port Vale in January.
Over the summer, Salford have signed 13 players over the summer, 9 of which are permanent signings and 4 season loans and let 8 leave the club. Joining the club are goalkeeper Kyle Letheren, defenders Dan Jones, Yianni Nicolaou, Cameron Burgess, Jack Baldwin and Sam Hughes (the last 3 all on loan), midfielders Joey Jones, Oscar Threlkeld, Richie Towell and Martin Smith as well as forwards Florian Yonsian, Luke Armstrong and loanee Jake Jervis.
Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met just the once in senior football with the Alex winning 4-1 at the Alexandra Stadium earlier in the season.
Who are the officials for the game?
The officials for this game see Peter Wright as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Ian Dudley and Christopher Ward with Richard Aspinall being the fourth official. Here are the Crewe games that have been refereed by Wright in the previous 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Grimsby Town (27th October 2018) – Whelan, Miller
- Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Colchester United (26th January 2019) – Kirk, Nolan
I asked Salford City supporter Andy Thurston for his thoughts going into the game.
What do you think of your season since the last meeting?
We’ve learnt a hell of lot defensively although we’ve not won as many games as our performances have warranted but it’s steady progress.
Which position should be the one that you should look to strengthen most in January?
Difficult one as the squad we’ve got is settling down into FL life now but we do have a lack of goals a pacey forward would be ideal.
What do you think the team will be for the game?
Same as the Bradford game, for all of Bradford’s possession they rarely troubled us in the last third due mainly to our work rate on and off the ball showing a really good work ethic from the lads be difficult to see any changes unless we have fresh injury worries.
Who is the danger man for Salford at the minute?
Simply Asante. The lad entertains with an end product only young and we will do well to keep hold of him – he is 100% destined for playing further up the pyramid.
Have you changed your mind on where you’ll finish this season?
Top 3 might be pushing it but I’m going top 7 and another trip to the capital.
