Harrogate Town v Crewe Alex 24/25 Preview - Undefeated

I can't work out whether an away trip to Harrogate is the best thing the Alex could have asked for. Or the worst. Because on the one hand, playing a struggling team who is low on confidence and with a terrible home record surely plays into the Alex's hands. But on the other, the Alex themselves are finding form hard to come by and a defeat here could see confidence both in the stands and on the pitch plummet. Here is my preview of their visit T'Yorkshuh:

Win

The Alex need to win this game. Not just for their own slipping promotion ambitions, but because from here on out until potentially their penultimate away game of the season at Colchester, they will be mostly facing teams who are at least in the play-off hunt. Gillingham aside, 5 of their next 6 away games are against Wimbledon(6th), Chesterfield(9th), Salford(8th), Notts County(2nd) and Bradford(3rd). That is a daunting run of games. This is their last away game against a true struggler until Tranmere at the end of April. They have to make it count.

Win Part 2

The Alex desperately need a win to settle the nerves after a tough 4 game stretch where they've come away with 5 points from a possible 12, slipped to 2nd, performed awfully in all 4 games and have scored just twice. The fan base is on edge after boos were heard during the draw against Wimbledon on Tuesday. The players are struggling to find any sort of rhythm and form. A win would calm everyone down, but a win and a performance to boot would help even more.

Unbeaten

The Alex and unbeaten aren't words that go together very often. Yet, 6 games against Harrogate have seen them go without defeat, with 4 wins and 2 draws giving them a fair advantage over them in head to head terms. They've also conceded just once in those 6 meetings. Now, the law of averages says Harrogate are due one eventually. I really hope it's not this one.

Expanded

Once nice factor to come from this game is that the Alex will be able to enjoy a new away end. Last season when they visited Wetherby Road, Harrogate's new away stand to the right of the dug outs in the corner wasn't finished and open. This time it will be. It means they will be able to take more than the 450 they were restricted to last season, with the total capacity now being around 1,000. Whilst I doubt they take that many, it'll be nice not to be squished into the small terrace behind the dug outs like in previous seasons.

Ref Watch

Michael Barlow

Another first time ref. This will be just his 5th EFL game and he was taking charge of conference games only a few weeks ago. I'm curious to see how he copes, as rookie refs can be notoriously hit or miss.

2024/25 Record: 11 games(5 League Two, 4 National League, 3 EFL Trophy), 29 yellows

Last Game: Tranmere Rovers 1-1 Gillingham, 25th January 2025, EFL League Two, 1 yellow

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Injuries/Absences

Harrogate

Missing for Harrogate on Tuesday were LB Matty Foulds, CM Josh Falkingham, CB Warren Burrell, CM George Thomson, ST Stephen Duke-McKenna, CM Matty Daly and CM Liam Gibson. They won't be near full strength for this game.

Crewe Alex

The Alex seem to be avoiding, touch wood, any more concerns. leaving them with just the usual trio of Connolly, Lankester and Thomas out.

Team

I don't blame him too much for what went wrong on Tuesday, but Zac Williams is performing the worst of the 4 CBs right now. He has got to be dropped, even just to keep him fresh for the run in. All this vice captain stuff is nonsense. Anyone can be dropped and after a run of average performances, that's what happens to him.

Conway goes back to LWB, Cooney stays at RWB and the back 3 that started on Tuesday goes again. Once again though, you're left really struggling to pick a midfield 3. Powell was an unused sub on Tuesday and Sanders only got 10 minutes. However, I thought Tabiner and Holicek did ok in difficult circumstances. For me, Sanders comes back in alongside those 2. It's not ideal and we've seen mixed things from that trio, but that's what I'd go with. Tommy Lowery goes on the bench.

Upfront and it's not a great set of options to choose from. I hate myself for saying this, but I'm starting Tracey and Long. Bogle looks lost at the moment and Hemmings probably can't give you more than 45-60 minutes at most.

Score Prediction

It's going to be tight, nervy and scrappy without a doubt. Bell says his players will emerge from their struggles. Will this be the game they do it? I really hope so. I'm summoning my last ounces of positivity for this one and saying we'll see a repeat of the Grimsby game.

Harrogate Town 0-2 Crewe Alexandra