Preview: Rotherham United vs. Crawley Town – prediction, team news, lineups

Aiming to give their slim hopes of escaping the League One relegation zone a major boost, Crawley Town will travel to the New York Stadium to take on Rotherham United on Saturday.

A victory last time out saw the visitors narrow their gap to safety to nine points with eight league games remaining.

Match preview

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Rotherham United head into the weekend aiming to end a three-match winless run and strengthen their League One top-half hopes heading into the final run-in.

Following their relegation from the Championship last time around, the Millers have endured a disappointing campaign in England’s third tier, currently sitting 14th having only earned 45 points from their 37 games thus far, winning 12 and losing 16 of those.

Steve Evans‘s side did end a five-match rut, in which they only picked up one point, with consecutive victories over Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient in early March, but they have since failed to build on those results, going on to lose 1-0 away at Wrexham and play out a 1-1 draw with Exeter City.

Promotion-chasing Wycombe Wanderers then visited the New York Stadium last time out, and the South Yorkshire outfit again came away empty-handed, despite leading through Louie Sibley around the hour mark, as Richard Kone, Sonny Bradley and Gideon Kodua put the visitors 3-1 up before Jonson Clarke-Harris halved the deficit late on.

Now trailing 12th-placed Lincoln City by five points with a game in hand, Rotherham United will hope to at least end their campaign on a high with an improved run and top-half finish, beginning with a return to winning ways on Saturday.

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Their visitors, meanwhile, head to South Yorkshire in desperate need of another three-point haul in their fight for third-tier survival this term.

After winning promotion from League Two under the management of Scott Lindsey last time around, Crawley Town have endured a tough campaign, sitting in the drop zone on just 30 points from 37 games, with Rob Elliot having replaced the departing Lindsey in October.

Elliot’s tenure would come to an end in mid-March following an eight-match unbeaten streak which produced just three points, culminating in a 1-0 home loss to Charlton Athletic and a 5-1 away beating at Huddersfield Town.

The Red Devils hierarchy then turned back to promotion-winning boss Lindsey, following his MK Dons departure, and he marked his return with a crucial victory last weekend, overseeing a 1-0 home victory over Bristol Rovers as Kamari Doyle netted the only goal in the 19th minute.

With some renewed confidence back in the camp but plenty of work left to do, given they sit 22nd and nine points adrift of safety with eight games remaining, Crawley Town will be desperate to put a winning run together to narrow their gap in the coming weeks, starting by making it back-to-back wins on Saturday.

Team News

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Rotherham United will remain without defender Sean Raggett and midfielders Alex MacDonald and Dan Gore due to ongoing injuries, while Zak Jules was forced off early in their defeat to Wycombe Wanderers last week and may also miss out.

If Jules is not fit to feature, and in the absence of Raggett, Cameron Humphreys will likely drop back into the middle of a back four alongside Hakeem Odoffin, allowing room for Louie Sibley in the midfield.

He could operate ahead of Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Joe Powell and Shaun McWilliams, while Jonson Clarke-Harris will hope to come into the attack from the start after netting his seventh league goal of the season off the bench in the defeat to Wycombe, in place of either Mallik Wilks or Sam Nombe, who leads the squad with nine goals in England’s third tier this term.

Scott Lindsey should field an unchanged Crawley Town starting XI following last week’s win over Bristol Rovers, with Joy Mukena remaining confined to the treatment room and goalkeeper Joe Wollacott away on international duty with Ghana.

In his absence, Hull City loanee Thimothee Lo-Tutala will make his second appearance for the Red Devils behind a back three of Charlie Barker, Toby Mullarkey and Josh Flint.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Will Swan will compete to lead the line, while Kamari Doyle is bound to continue in support having netted four goals in 13 league appearances since his January loan arrival from Brighton & Hove Albion, including the winner last time out.

Rotherham United possible starting lineup:
Phillips; Rafferty, Odoffin, Humphreys, James; Ruddock Mpanzu, McWilliams, Powell; Sibley; Clarke-Harris, Nombe

Crawley Town possible starting lineup:
Lo-Tutala; Barker, Mullarkey, Flint; Quitirna, Ibrahim, Fraser, Watson, Kelly; Doyle; Hepburn-Murphy

We say: Rotherham United 1-1 Crawley Town

While the hosts certainly boast more quality that the visitors, they have failed to make that count so far this season, while Crawley Town head to the New York Stadium with fresh optimism back under the management of Scott Lindsey.

We see them leaving South Yorkshire with at least a point at the weekend, albeit with only a victory sufficing in their bid to move closer to safety.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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