Crewe Alexandra travel to face Salford City in their third League Two fixture of the season on Saturday (August 11, 3pm).
Alex Morris's men will be aiming to make it three league wins on the spin at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, while unbeaten Salford will be looking to make it back-to-back wins at home.
The Opposition
Owned by Manchester United legends Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, and David Beckham, along with majority shareholder Peter Lim, Salford have been on a meteoric rise from the depths of non-league since 2014.
Salford have finished 11th, eighth and 10th in their three EFL seasons so far. They will certainly be targeting promotion this time around.
The Gaffer
Neil Wood was appointed to his first managerial post at Salford earlier this year. The 39-year-old came through Manchester United's academy and went on to play for the likes of Burnley, Coventry and Blackpool, before beginning a career in coaching. H
e worked his way up to become U23 Manager at Manchester United in 2019, but is now in the hot seat at Salford.
Fighting Talk
Alex Morris: "You would suggest that on paper this will be our hardest fixture yet so it’ll be a good barometer of where we are at right now. They have a fluid and flexible system which changes depending on whether they are in or out of possession."
Neil Wood: "One of our big strengths is that we are really strong defensively, and that's a good platform to build on. But we have got some extra bits to work on to get better, going into the next few games."
Team news
Charlie Colkett has picked up a hamstring injury and will be unavailable. Christopher Long, Dave Richards, and Rio Adebisi are still working towards full fitness.
Head to Head
It’s honours even in the two previous times Crewe have faced each other. Crewe emerged as 4-1 winners in the first-ever meeting, in September 2019, when Chris Porter (2), Tom Lowery, and Harry Pickering got on target. City won 3-1 in the return fixture, with Pickering getting the consolation.
Officials
Craig Hicks, who is based in Surrey and is now into his fifth season as an EFL referee, will be the man in the middle.
Assistant referees David Avent and Christopher Husband, while the fourth official is Akil Howson.
Ticket Details
Click here for ticket information.
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