Football VAVEL

League Two Gameweek 2 Preview

Plymouth Argyle lead the division on goal difference going into Gameweek 2, after winning 3-0 away at Crewe Alexandra. 

League Two Gameweek 2 Preview
(Photo: VAVEL)
amillington
By Adam Millington

Grimsby Town vs Bradford City

A sellout away crowd will follow Gary Bowyer's team to Humberside to watch them take on Grimsby Town at Blundell Park. The Mariners sit higher in the table after their 2-0 win away at Morecambe on Saturday; Elliott Whitehouse and Max Wright the scorers.

Ex-Bradford player James Hanson will play against the team that he gained legendary status at. He was instrumental in City's astonishing 2012/13 season. He scored the goal against Aston Villa to take them to the League Cup final. Later in the season, he netted in the play-off semi-final against Burton Albion and then once more in the final against Northampton Town to seal promotion.

It would be hard for anybody to predict anything but a Bradford win for this game, even if they failed to pick up a point at the weekend against Cambridge United.

Walsall vs Forest Green Rovers

Playoff semi-finalists Forest Green Rovers will travel to newly relegated Walsall. Mark Cooper's side will be without key midfielder George Williams, who broke his Fibula in a slide tackle with Oldham Athletic's Zak Mills just four minutes into the season. Rovers, however, managed to gain a valuable three points on Saturday, debutant teenager Taylor Allen breaking the deadlock.

Walsall also won the first fixture of their season by a single goal, defeating Northampton Town away at the PTS Academy Stadium. Newly signed defender James Clarke from Bristol Rovers scored in the thirteenth minute to give Walsall the lead.

The match will not be an easy affair for either side, with Forest Green just missing out on a playoff final last season. 

Crawley Town vs Salford City

Crawley face League, Two newcomers, Salford City in their second tie. So far, the Sussex-based side has failed to win a single game of their campaign, being defeated in all pre-season ties and also in their match against Carlisle United.

Crawley will be without right-back Lewis Young after he received a red card in the final minute of play in their first league match of the season. New signing from Birmingham City, 21-year-old Beryl Lubala scored the only goal for the Reds at the weekend.

Salford will be looking to capitalise on their good form in the first match of the season, in which they ran out 2-0 victors over StevenageEmmanuel Dieseruvwe netted both for the side in their first-ever match in the Football League pyramid.

Big spenders and with backing from the class of 92', many would predict that Salford City can go far this season, after coasting their way through the National League last year and finding promotion through the playoffs.

Cheltenham Town vs Scunthorpe United

Cheltenham Town fell to newly promoted Leyton Orient at the weekend. During the match, the Robins found two of their players sent off of the field, initially striker Luke Varney was handed a second yellow card of the day. Just two minutes after Varney's exit, defensive general Rohan Ince also saw red.

Relegated at the end of the last year, Scunthorpe also failed to secure any points in their first fixture, being defeated by Swindon Town away from home - despite having the majority of possession.

Jordan Hallam, Kevin van Veen and John McAtee have all picked up injuries whilst playing for the irons, with McAtee being the only one with a possibility of starting. Striker Van Veen will be out for approximately four weeks and will be a large blow for Paul Hurst's side.

Plymouth Argyle vs Colchester United

Ryan Lowe's Argyle are favourites by many to win the division's title this season. Back at Home Park, they will be looking to build on their 3-0 win away from home against Crewe Alexandra at the weekend. The cornish side sits atop of the table on goal difference after one match.

A key part of Lowe's Bury side that won promotion last season, midfielder Callum McFadzean impressed on Saturday. The 25-year-old netted twice, scoring for his first time since a 2-0 win away at Chester in December of 2017 whilst at Guiseley AFC.

Finishing a single point outside of the playoffs last year, Colchester United will be looking to try and do better this year. They drew their first match of the season against Port Vale. Luke Norris was the lone scorer for the 'U's.

Stevenage vs Exeter City

Both sides finished the 18/19 on 70 points, narrowly missing out on on a playoff position. Exeter, however, started the 2019/20 season much stronger, with a 1-0 win at home to Macclesfield Town. Ryan Bowman netted the single goal in the 88th minute. Despite being the better of the two sides, Bowman's goal was not a skilful one - a lucky deflection from Nicky Law's cross.

Stevenage, however, fell in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Salford City in the first League Two match.  Dino Maamria's side only managed to secure two shots on target, and neither of them were good enough to reach the back of the net.

The last time that the two teams faced,  it ended in a 1-1 stalemate. Kurtis Guthrie and Bowman the goalscorers. 

Swindon Town vs Carlisle United

Richie Wellens' Swindon have secured a number of promising signings over the summer window.  One of those is Aston Villa's Jordan Lyden. This will be Wellens' first full season in a managerial role. At his first club, Oldham Athletic, he was sacked when the team were relegated from League One. The Mancunian took the reigns at Swindon in November of last year, guiding them to a 13th place finish.

The Reds have had a positive start to the season, winning 2-0 against Scunthorpe United, although they did lose their midweek game against Chelsea's U21 side in the Football League Trophy. Jerry Yates and Keshi Anderson scored the important goals to gain them the three points.

Carlisle also won their first match, a 2-1 victory at home to a 9-man Crawley Town, Harry McKirdy and Stefan Scougall the goalscorers. Steven Pressley's side finished last season in tenth place after a good start with John Sheridan, and will surely want to try and gain momentum early into this campaign

Oldham Athletic vs Crewe Alexandra

Following their 3-2 win over Liverpool in the Leasing.com trophy and their 1-0 loss against Forest Green Rovers, Laurent Banide's side takes on Crewe Alexandra. In their first half away from home last weekend at the New Lawn, Oldham looked strong however Taylor Allen managed to put the ball past goalkeeper Gary Woods.


Losing their previous game against Plymouth Argyle, David Artell's side will look to try and pick up some points at Boundary Park. The Alex's manager was in attendance at Oldham's match against Liverpool U21s, but the side that featured in that match is likely to be changed heavily for this weekend's league game.

Port Vale vs Northampton Town

In Port Vale's first season under new ownership, they will look to pick up points against Northampton Town. Last year, Vale finished in 20th place, only eight points off of relegation. In their first match of this season, they picked up a single point away to Colchester United; longstanding player Tom Pope hitting home a penalty in the fifth minute. With only one shot on target during the game, it was lucky for the Burslem based side that they had been awarded the penalty early on.

Keith Curle's men, Northampton Town, fell at the hands of Walsall in the first of their 19/20 campaign. James Clarke scored early on against David Cornell in front of a vocal contingent of Walsall supporters to deny the cobblers any chance at getting the three points.

Mansfield Town vs Morecambe FC

Facing the same side that they did earlier this year in their playoff semi-final, Mansfield drew 2-2 away at Newport County in their first fixture of the 19/20 season. Krystian Pearce and Danny Rose scored both of the team's goals in quick succession, to bring the Stags back from two goals behind.

Mansfield will have to face Morecambe without their experienced midfielder Jacob Mellis after he received a red card at the weekend. Mellis is a key player for the stags and has already made a total of 53 career appearances for them.

Morecambe, who comfortably finished in safety from relegation last year, lost 4-0 during their last time at the OneCall Stadium  and manager Jim Bentley will not want his side to suffer a defeat like that again

Macclesfield Town vs Leyton Orient

Narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Macclesfield Town are at home to last season's National League winners, Leyton Orient. With the club in a bad situation off of the field, many people will be predicting the silkmen to suffer relegation this year. Sol Campbell's side lost their first fixture 1-0 away from home to Exeter City, with the Grecians scoring a very lucky goal to secure three points.

Leyton Orient won their opener 1-0 against a nine-man Cheltenham side, Josh Wright scoring the only goal. Orient dominated the match, with 69% possession and not allowing Cheltenham Town to have even a single shot on target. The 29-year-old Wright has a lot of experience in the Football League, with 326 matches under his belt so far.

The last time the two met at Moss Rose was in a 0-0 draw in League Two in 2005, and both teams have had many changes both on and off the field in the fourteen years since.

Cambridge United vs Newport County

It was a shock to many when Cambridge United drew 0-0 with a very strong Bradford City side, who have spent big over the summer to bring in the likes of James Vaughan to their team, and now have a side that looks more than capable of promotion back to league one at the first time of asking.

However, Colin Calderwood's Cambridge United managed to draw the game out to a stalemate. Unluckily for United, midfielder Liam O'Neil received a sending off during the match when he tripped up striker Clayton Donaldson.

Newport County were so close to finding promotion last season, being seconds away from a penalty shootout in their playoff final with Tranmere Rovers. Michael Flynn's Exiles will be looking to try and build on the last season's near-success, and try and gain promotion into League One.