Team News:
John Akinde is out with a fresh hamstring injury following a return from a previous knee injury two games ago. Jamie Stephens and Curtis Weston are both still out of action with their knee injuries. Dave Tarpey (knee), Elliott Johnson (knee) and Richard Brindley (foot) are all out with long-term injuries.
Andre Blackman will be back after suspension to face his former side.
Last Time We Met:
In March 2017, Barnet came from behind twice to secure a 2-2 draw at The Hive London against Crawley, including a wonder strike from Simeon Akinola.
Rhys Murphy opened the scoring for the visitors in the 31st minute after a fortunate deflection saw Benjamin Buchel beaten for the first time.
The equaliser in the 39th minute from Akinola however was inspired. A stunning overhead kick from the midfielder meant Glenn Morris had no chance in the Crawley goal.
However, Crawley took back the lead nine minutes after the break, Enzio Boldewijn, slipping in behind the defence to slide the ball across goal.
With the game heading towards a Crawley win, Jamal Campbell-Ryce whipped in a cross that beat everyone in the 88th minute, including Morris which saw Barnet take a share of the points.
Manager:
Harry Kewell became the club’s Head Coach on the 23rd May 2017.
During a glittering playing career in England and abroad, Sydney-born Harry played in two Champions League finals for Liverpool and two World Cup finals for Australia.
He came to England in 1995 and within a year was making his first-team debut for Leeds United in the Premier League.
In 2000, Kewell was named PFA Young Player of the Year and he had three more seasons at Elland Road before joining Liverpool, the team he supported as a boy, in 2003.
Two years later he became the first Australian to play in the Champions League final and in 2006 he was an FA Cup winner with Liverpool.
In 2007, he played in his second Champions League final and when he left Anfield in 2008 Harry had played 380 League and Cup games in England, scoring 79 goals.
He signed for Turkish club Galatasaray in 2008 and had three seasons with them, scoring 34 goals in 91 appearances.
In August 2011, he signed for Melbourne Victory and also played for Melbourne Heart (now rebranded as Melbourne City) in the Australian League, either side of a short spell in the Qatar Stars League with Al Gharafa.
Harry became Australia’s youngest international when he made his debut aged 17 against Chile in 1996. He played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cup finals, helping the Socceroos reach the second round in 2006 after scoring in a 2-2 draw against Croatia. He was sent off in the 2010 finals in South Africa against Ghana.
He played 56 times for his country, scoring 17 goals.
When he announced his retirement in June 2014 Harry had played 515 professional games and scored 124 goals as either a winger or striker.
He is currently working on his UEFA Pro License coaching qualification and was in charge of the under-23s at Watford from June 2015 before leaving the club by mutual consent earlier this year. During his time at Vicarage Road, three of the under-23s made their first team debuts.
Dangerman:
Captain Jimmy Smith played in every single league game for The Red Devils last season, providing seven goals and four assists from central midfield.
A Premier League winner with Chelsea in 2006, he first made a name for himself at Leyton Orient, making 187 appearances in four years at the club. One season at Stevenage saw Crawley sign the Englishman in the summer of 2014.
Three years later and he’s still going strong and, at 30 years old, he certainly has the experience needed to lead the Crawley side to success.
Connections:
John Akinde made 40 appearances for Crawley Town in a two-year spell at the club, scoring two goals in the process between 2011 and 2013.
Andre Blackman joined Crawley from MAS Fes in July 2016 making 32 appearances before joining The Bees this summer.
Mark Randall joined Barnet from MK Dons in January 2016 before departing for Newport that summer. The 27-year-old played 12 games for the club, scoring two goals in a brief spell at The Hive London.
Last Time Out:
In their previous fixture, Crawley Town lost 1-0 to high-flying Notts County in Sky Bet League Two at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.
A 55th-minute strike from Jorge Grant was enough to see Notts County extend their unbeaten run to seven games in the league, winning the last four.
Crawley: Morris; Young, Lelan, Yorwerth, Evina; Payne (Roberts 57); Boldewijn. Smith, Bulman (Sanoh 66), Smith, Randall (Camara 75); Meite. Unused subs: Mersin, Doherty, Connolly, Tajbakhsh. Booked: Yorwerth.
Ticket info:
Supporters can purchase tickets in advance here.
Keep up with the game:
Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. If you are based outside of the UK & Ireland, you can, for the first time ever, watch the game live on iFollow.
You can also get live match updates on Twitter throughout the afternoon. We are also on Facebook and will go behind the scenes on our Instagram.
