Crawley Town ready to take on Manchester United

Crawley Town coach, Scott Evans, says he and his team would be nervous facing United and their legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but he also likes their chances.

Both sides are known as the "Red Devils" and both have outspoken Scotsmen as their managers. But that is where the similarities end between Manchester United and Crawley Town.

The gulf between the two clubs could hardly be bigger ahead of their meeting today in the FA Cup fifth round, a game being billed as one of the biggest mismatches in the history of the competition.

United, who have been European champions three times and boast some of England's great names, such as Ryan Giggs, who yesterday signed a new 12-month contract with the club, sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League as they go in search of a record 19th English title.

Crawley have never played above the fifth tier of English football and, until this year, struggled to attract a crowd of more than 500 spectators to their matches.

The tiny southeast club will, however, become a household name if they spring the surprise of a lifetime at Old Trafford today. Crawley became the first non-league team in 17 years to reach this stage of the FA Cup after beating league sides Swindon Town, Derby County and Torquay United.

Their coach, Scott Evans, said that he and his team would be nervous facing United and their legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but he also likes their chances.

"I think that we are genuinely one of the teams that could possibly get a positive result there," he said. "It will just be Manchester United v Crawley Town, and as far-fetched as that sounds, that's what it is.

"The fact that Sir Alex and Mike Phelan came to our match on Tuesday against Wrexham maybe tells us they are treating it a bit more seriously than many people thought."