Crawley Town manager John Yems – like Carlisle United’s Keith Millen – is looking for a fourth successive League Two win on Saturday.
The sides are two of the form teams at the moment with both winning their last three outings.
United sit fifth in the latest form table (over the last six League games) and Crawley are just three places lower. Carlisle boast four wins, with two defeats while Crawley have three wins, two draws and a defeat.
Town have risen to 12th, just four points off the play-offs while Millen’s side are up to 19th after a difficult first half of the season.
Yems wants his side to carry on doing what they are doing and continue their unbeaten run, but they won’t take anything for granted.
He told the club website: “We don’t underestimate anyone. It’s another game that you are going to prepare to win, but don’t forget they are preparing to beat us.
“Over the 90 minutes we work to win, we don’t just go up there just to say ‘what a long trip’ and take a few pictures of Hadrian’s Wall. We are going up there for three points.
“I know their manager well, he’s a good football person and they are a good club who always make you feel welcome.”
Midfielder Sam Matthews, who made his first appearance after a long injury against Northampton Town on Saturday and provided the assist for Tom Nichols’ winner, insists “It’s just another game”.
He went on: “You do get used to travelling a lot. This one is particularly long but the focus is on the game and you get up there, rest, and do everything that is needed prior to the game, but come Saturday 3pm it’s just another game.”
Crawley’s new loan signing Caleb Watts is expected to make his first league appearance for the Reds at Brunton Park.
Watts is an attacking midfielder who has joined for the rest of the season from Southampton. He will be 20 on Sunday so is looking for an early birthday present.
An Australian youth international Watts has been playing well for Southampton’s B team with a goal and six assists in 12 games.
This is the first loan spell of his career and he joins fellow Saints loanee Will Ferry at Crawley.
The Crawley manager is an interesting character. The 62-year-old Yems never player senior football professionally after suffering an injury towards the end of his youth career where he’d played for Crystal Palace, Reading and Millwall.
He has worked as a coach and scout with a number of clubs and from 2012 to 2018 was football operations manager at Bournemouth before landing the Crawley job in 2019.
He is under contract with Crawley until the end of the 2022/23 season and his game at Carlisle on Saturday will be his 100th in charge.
His record going into the game at Brunton Park is 35 wins, 27 draws and 37 defeats which works out at 132 points – averaging 1.33 points a game.
