Friday 26th December 1997
Crawley Town 0 Hastings Town 0
Dr Martens League Premier Division
At: Broadfield Stadium
Kick-off: 3-00 pm
Admission: £5 (standing), £6 (seat); programme: £1 (36 pages)
Attendance: 1573
Weather: showers
This was quite an interesting game at Crawley’s new Broadfield Stadium which was opened earlier this year to replace the old Town Mead ground I visited twice.
Both sides went into this Boxing Day fixture in midtable with 11th-placed Crawley Town (31 points from 22 games) three positions and five points better off than visitors Hastings United (26 points from 21 games).
Watched by an above average crowd, play was quite competitive though few clear-cut goalscoring opportunities were created. Peter Garland impressed me in midfield and defender Marc Pullen was named as Man of the Match by the sponsors.
Crawley Town (red/red/red): 1. Richard Morgan, 2. Dave Stevens, 3. Ian Payne, 4. Wesley O’Connor, 5. Marc Pullen, 6. Phil Barber, 7. Jsutin Gregory, 8. Peter Garland, 9. John Richardson, 10. Jon Warden, 11. Mark Hawthorne. Subs: 12. Benn Abbey (not used), 14. Joel Kirkland (not used), 15. Lee Richardson (not used).
Hastings United (white/white/white): 1. James Creed, 2. Danny Simmonds, 3. Paul Tuppenney, 4. Andrew Larkin, 5. Mark Norris, 6. Matthew Ball, 7. Steve Payne, 8. Stuart Playford, 9. Nicky Dent, 10. Stafford Brown, 11. Simon Beard. Subs: 12. Simon Fox (for Dent, 84), 14. Terry White, 15. Steve Yates (for Steve Payne, 71).
Referee: Martyn Newell (Edenbridge).
Goals:
None.
Cards:
Crawley: Mark Hawthorne (YC, 23)
Hastings: Paul Tuppenney (YC, 34), Mark Morris (YC, 41)
Man of the Match: Marc Pullen (Crawley Town).
