York City meet Crawley Town in the concluding preliminary-round tie of the 2026-27 Carabao Cup.
Victory would see York or Crawley visit Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday 8 August at 3pm BST in the first round of the competition.
Team News
Hiram Boateng is ruled out for York with an unspecified injury.
Josh Stones (unspecified), Mark Kitching (foot) and Jeff King (knock) are too sidelined.
Crawley too have no fresh injury concerns to report after pre-season, although Jay Williams is unlikely to start after having missed part of pre-season with an unspecified injury.
When is Kick-Off?
York host Crawley at York Community Stadium on Monday 3 August at 7:30pm BST, live on Sky Sports+ Red Button in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is York’s first-ever League Cup meeting against Crawley.
- Crawley are yet to lose to York in all EFL competitions – having won 1-0 at home then drew 2-2 away in their League Two meetings in the 2015-16 season.
- This is Crawley’s first-ever trip to York’s new stadium in all competitions, with the Minstermen having moved to the York Community Stadium from their former home – Bootham Crescent in 2021.
- York have won just one of their last 12 ties in the League Cup (W1, L11), although this is the very first time that they will enter at the preliminary round stage of the competition. .
- Crawley won their only previous preliminary round appearance in this competition back in 2011-12 edition, which saw them beat AFC Wimbledon 3-2 at home.
Prediction
Having surprisingly sacked Stuart Maynard just a week ago, York now are in an interesting situation because it’s tricky to know what to expect under Scott Lindsey who didn’t take their final pre-season game against Peterborough which ended in a 2-1 loss.
Crawley meanwhile were lucky to stay up at the end of last season but have failed to win any of their last nine competitive away trips which surely has to be sat mentally in their mind, but they’ve invested well with signings like Vito Mannone and Jude Arthurs.
York though do look like they have the better attacking quality and momentum which I do think will be the difference, but don’t expect an easy game because a trip to Watford is a tie worth fighting for in terms of an away pay day.
Prediction: York 2-1 Crawley
Result: York 0-2 Crawley