As Bristol Rovers prepare to travel to Crawley Town in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday, here are five players who have played for both clubs.
The Pirates are looking to return to winning ways after three straight defeats in the fourth tier, losing narrowly away to league leaders Walsall before back-to-back defeats to Milton Keynes Dons and Tranmere Rovers at The Memorial Stadium.
As for Crawley, they lost to Shrewsbury Town in their previous outing and will be searching for their first victory since the middle of September, with the Red Devils on a six-game winless run across all competitions.
Before the fixture at Broadfield Stadium, take a look at these five players who have represented both clubs.
Tony Craig
Craig played over 100 times for Rovers and Crawley, but despite making a substantial number of appearances for both clubs, he is most well-known for his time at Millwall. Coming through the Lions’ academy, the defender made his professional debut for his boyhood team in a 3-3 draw against Nottingham Forest in 2003 and went on to play 322 times for the club across four separate spells, winning the Sky Bet League One playoffs in 2010 and 2017.
Before playing for either the Pirates or Crawley, Craig represented Wycombe Wanderers, Crystal Palace, Leyton Orient and Brentford, moving from the Bees after a three-season spell to Millwall, where he spent another two and a half campaigns before joining Rovers in February 2017. Craig was an ever-present and made 115 appearances for the Gas, scoring seven goals.
After departing Rovers in 2020, Craig then switched to Crawley, where he made 102 appearances across three campaigns, scoring once and again being a constant player in the team. The centre-back then went on loan for the second half of the 2022/23 term to Dorking Wanderers before signing permanently for the club the following summer, where he has remained ever since.
Tom Nichols
Nichols came through Exeter City's academy and had four loan spells away, going out twice to Dorchester Town and once each at Hereford United and Bath City before becoming a regular. The midfielder scored 36 goals across 112 appearances in all competitions before moving up to Sky Bet League One with Peterborough United. He played 58 times for the Posh before going to Rovers in July 2017.
Nichols was a regular in the Pirates team in his first two seasons at the Club, playing 75 times in Sky Bet League One, but after making 19 appearances in the 2019/20 campaign, he went out on loan to Cheltenham Town for the remainder of the term.
The 32-year-old then moved to Crawley, where he spent three seasons and made 109 appearances across all competitions before going to Gillingham. He had two campaigns at the Gills before going to Manchester Town and Swindon Town, where he is now.
Matt Harrold
Harrold played for ten different teams before appearing for either Rovers or Crawley. The forward appeared across the English Football pyramid, playing as high as the Championship with Southend United before signing for the Gas from Shrewsbury Town in 2011.
He was prolific in his first campaign for Rovers, scoring 18 goals in all competitions, with 16 coming in Sky Bet League Two. However, after just five games in the following campaign, the striker sustained a serious knee injury that ruled him out until the final day of the campaign, netting in a 3-3 draw against Torquay United.
Harrold had one more term at the Gas, scoring six goals in 30 league appearances before making the move to Crawley in 2014. He spent four seasons at the Red Devils, scoring 11 goals in 80 appearances across all competitions before finishing his playing career at Leyton Orient. He is now the loans manager at Premier League team Bournemouth.
Matthew Cox
Cox is only 22 years old, and the promising goalkeeper has only represented the Pirates and Crawley at a senior level. Capped by England at the youth level, the shot-stopper has featured on the bench for the Bees and was the backup for David Raya for most of the 2022/23 season after an injury to Thomas Strakosha.
In the following campaign, Cox went on loan to the Gas and made 28 appearances in Sky Bet League One, starting the season in goal before being replaced by Jed Ward, only playing once more past late January.
Last term, Cox was the third-choice goalkeeper behind Mark Flekken and Hákon Valdimarsson before going on loan to Crawley in January. He went straight into the side and made three appearances but suffered a torn hamstring and did not play for the Red Devils again.
Jefferson Louis
There will not be many, if any, players who have appeared for more clubs and played for as long as Louis. The striker made 51 moves in his 28-year career and appeared over 800 times, mostly playing in non-league.
He represented Rovers nine times in the league in the 2004/05 term, also playing for Oxford United, Gravesend & Northfleet, Forest Green Rovers and Woking in the same season. He then played for Crawley on 18 occasions in the 2009/10 campaign, scoring five times. After retiring from playing, Louis took a coaching role with Slough Town as their assistant head coach.
