So, being the train spotters and we got 3 points from our Cup final. Better than being clay heads and getting around no points in their 3rd round replay. Maybe it wouldn’t have been our cup final if we had lost, who knows the crazy mind of Stoke fans?
Dario started the most predictable line up of the season, but on the bench came a small surprise. Anthony Tonkin and Paul Edwards didn’t make the bench, instead Eamon Zayed made his first appearance in the first 16 since signing from Bray Wanderers. James Robinson also got the nod for the bench.
Williams
Vaughan - McCready - Foster - B.Jones
Hignett - Sorvel - Cochrane - Lunt
S.Jones - Ashton
Stoke? You’re havin’ a laugh!
HOOF. It was Stoke’s main aim. Get it to the half way line and hoof it up to Ade Akinbiyi, the worst striker to grace the Gresty Road pitch this season. He’s got the first touch of a brick wall, got the skills of Paul Tait and the temper of a big toddler, sorry for not being very imaginative. So they got it to Akinbiyi and he messed up and gave it away.
Well, he didn’t mess up but Foster had him in his back pocket for 90 minutes.
From the early stages it was quite clear that they aren’t good enough for the play-offs, delusions again from the Stoke fans in thinking they are good enough. Wake Up. Get the coffee and smell it.
Knife through butter
Our game plan was evident from the start, sit back and let Stoke come at us. Why not? They weren’t on their way to sending balls round the back of the defence and go free on goal, they weren’t even looking threatening from crosses and corners. Foster kept their one man bad in order, Ade Akinbiyi, and we were comfortable.
Six minutes in and we had actually created the first real chance. It was like knife through butter as Lunt and Ashton played it off each other in the Stoke half before Lunt sent a beautiful 20 yard ball to Hignett’s feet. Hignett was completely unmarked down the left and had enough time and space to use his lightening pace to charge down on goal. De Goey closed him down quickly and Hignett tried to chip it over the top of the advanced De Goey but the ball skimmed the top of the bar.
The crisp clean pass and move attack gave the Alex contingent of the 10,014 crowd a massive lift. Four minutes later Stevie Jones cut inside and sent a fine shot from 25 yards to the right of De Goey forcing him to dive low and fumble Jonah’s shot.
Stoke were ‘dominating’ possession, if you like, but who cares. We were creating the chances and that’s what fans want. It took 15 minutes before Asaba registered their first shot and that was easy for Ben Williams to catch.
They managed a minor scare when they hoofed it into the penalty area and we failed to clear properly. Resulting in Asaba with the ball and his back to goal just 6 yards out, but that was cleared up soon enough.
1-0 to the Trainspotters
Crewe made the break through, rather fortunately, and it came from Kenny Lunt and Marcus Hall. Captain Lunt sent Ashton down the left with a superb pass and with acres of space he had time to run into the area before cutting it back to Lunt. Lunt scuffed the ball and it was going wide till Marcus Hall stook out a leg and sent it bobbling into the bottom left had corner.
Kenny was all too embarrassed to claim the goal but after a few ‘double-takes’ from Alex fans they cheered their way into the 1-0 lead on the 25th minute.
He’s only 16, he’s taking the piss
Billy Jones once again proved his quality and this time against Peter Hoekstra. The 16 year old, or 17 by the time this is read, had Hoekstra squirming for a bit of space.
Hoekstra is usually a big threat from Stoke but tonight saw Billy stick in tackle after tackle and block after block to frustrate the Dutch winger. The 30 year old tried to intimidate Billy as well, with niggling late tackles, but Billy didn’t give a toss and gave as good as he got.
In the second half, Hoekstra went off ‘injured’ and was replaced by Kris Commons who, tipped for a £3million move to Birmingham (More coffee for Stoke fans!), was kept well and truly quiet by Billy. Quality…
Dominate all you like but you’re getting nowhere.
The first half finished a bit poorly compared to the opening 25 minutes. We allowed Stoke to sit with the ball hoofing it up to Ainbiyi who tried to be clever but made himself look a tit s we went up the other end and tried to dominate from there.
Steve Jones should have made it two before half time. This time from the left he cut inside and unleashed a powerful shot from 25 yards, it looked to be heading for the far right corner but somehow, at full stretch, Ed De Goey parried it out for a corner.
The second half wasn’t much different but Stoke managed a promising shot on target, bless their cotton socks. Coming from Sebastian, he turned McCready and had a pop at goal from inside the Crewe area but with Ben Williams in goal you’re always in safe hands. Williams parried it away from goal before gathering up on the floor.
It was shoot on sight for Stoke. Sebastian Svard and Kris Commons made up many of Stokes hoofing shots, they weren’t even aimed anywhere just hit and hope.
Their best chance of the first few minutes was gift wrapped from Crewe. Not sure what foster was doing but at the right post, across the face of the goal, he left it late to clear a bouncing ball and Akinbiyi had closed him down. Akinbiyi, being huge, got in the way and the ball bounced off his shin and onto the post and out for a goal kick - Williams looked bemused to what Foz was doing.
…and then there were two…
The game was mainly Stoke, as usual, but as usual they weren’t threatening. Kenny Lunt then popped up with a second from nowhere leaving Stoke fans moaning some more - but at least the car park isn’t too bad in Crewe.
The move was all down to Lunty. He came down the left wing and cut inside. 25 yards out he tried to pass to Ashton but the ball went AWOL and ended up being at a Stoke players foot. Every fan in the ground got annoyed at Lunt so Lunt went charging in, won the bouncing ball and from 25 yards smacked it dipping into the back of the net leaving De Goey dead and buried.
He saluted the Air Products Stand and settled 8,000 fans nerves…
Even I could score THAT!
When Akinbiyi is playing you always know a comedy moment is not far away, and I’m not talking about when he tries to run. Tonight we present miss of the season. Kenny Lunt tried a stupid back pass from 30 yards in the Crewe half, Ben Williams wasn’t too aware of it and the weakness of the pass was sussed as Akinbiyi ran onto it and free on goal.
He poked it past Williams and the ball slowly rolled….. Towards….. The….. Goal…. Surely…. 2-1.… Akinbiyi turns away to celebrate….. But it’s hit the post and comes bouncing back from the goal and McCready fires it clear. Crewe fans didn’t know whether to laugh, cheer or just cry of embarrassment.
He could have rounded Williams, as Williams was virtually useless in that situation, or he could have chipped it over Williams or better still he could have kept going and followed up the shot but Akinbiyi has to be different. Different? I mean, crap.
You’ll never beat Ben Williams
That was Stokes first and only real opportunity to scored. It was smashing it over from 20 yards that saw their ‘shots counter’, as Pulis would call it, go up and up. But bless ‘em, their fans seem delighted that they won on the amounts of shots. It’s the taking part that counts after all, because that’s all they did - take part.
We, on the other hand could counter attack with ease. Craig Hignett found himself in position, in the 70th minute, identical to the one he found himself in at the start of the match. The 34 year old raced down the left and into the box with the ball, he tried to side foot it under the keeper but the keeper got a foot to it and it was cleared.
The last, real, action of the game came Stoke’s way. Billy Jones gave away a free kick against Gerry Taggart. When Dermot Gallagher blew his whistle Billy kicked the ball up the other end of the pitch and got himself a booking and the free kick moved forward 10 yards to the edge of the area.
The free kick was curled in and to Ben Williams’ left, the 21 year old keeper made quick reactions to change his footing and direction to dive to his left and catch the ball mid air - denying a certain Stoke goal. It brought a standing ovation from the Crewe faithful.
Crewe went on to run down the clock with Ashton winding up several Stoke players by standing in the corner with the ball unfazed at the 5 Stoke players piled around him trying to get the ball. In fact, he would up John Halls so much that Halls got booked for smashing into Deano. Tsk Tsk, dirty buggers.
Crewho? No! Crewe you unwitty idiots!
We finally got a comfortable win and are now 6 points off the bottom three. The win has sent a lot of optimism my way and I’m aiming for about 6 points from the next three games, Forest, Rotherham and Watford.
Three points should see us safe but six points would see us safe. We needed this win to just boost us on towards the end of the season, fine, we did win against Wigan but it was rather fortunate.
Tonights game proved we still have it in us and it’s a matter of confidence. Stoke weren’t fantastic and the bottom nine suits them down to the ground. Play-offs my arse. They were distinctly average. They may have had the better of the possession, percentage wise, but it’s all about chances and that’s something they didn’t have. One all match and they completely scuffed it - you need chances to score goals and you need goals to score matches.
We went into the game with a game plan, sit back and let them do all the work. We aren’t oozing with confidence and going full pelt at them wouldn’t have done us any good as they’d probably find it easy to break us down, so as seen as their defence is a shambles when being ran at - we took advantage of it.
There were times when flashes of brilliance were coming back to our game and the team gave a lot for fans to gain optimism from, and we will.
Stoke fans seem very bitter in defeat. It’s a no win situation regarding them, we lose and we’re rivals and they’re the kings of the area, they lose and we’re not their rivals, never will be and it was just another game to them. Very sly way of working things, but they blow their cover with their rather lame nick names of Trainspotters and Crewho? Every time they mention us… shows how much they care.
I find it hilarious that their fanzine editor, ‘The Oatcake’, can brandish us as to playing the long ball game. Sorry, but if we play the long ball game then Stoke must play….?
Pint of BITTER anyone?
Maybe some fine Cheshire cheese? Shame the grapes from Stoke have gone all SOUR.
Time for player ratings….
Williams - 8 - A fine young keeper to call up. Another fine performance, dealt with Stoke’s long shots with ease and when called up, albeit rarely, he was super.
Billy - 7 - Top game from the youngster. Can’t fault him.
Foster - 8 - Had Akinbiyi out of the game for 90 minutes. Very solid performance.
McCready - 8 - Another solid performance from McCready and partners Foz well in defence. Bit of afters, in the tunnel, with Akinbiyi, hope he gave as good as he got.
Vaughan - 9 - Forgot to mention him in the report but once again was the main man on the park. Ran through Stoke with such ease, whilst playing at left back aswell! Man of the Match.
Lunt - 7 - Excellent goal from Lunt, got involved more than in recent game but still not his best.
Cochrane - 8 - Gave Stoke a tough time from midfield. Getting the tackles in and making sure they counted. Best performance in a while from Justin.
Sorvel - 7 - Very quiet.
Hignett - 6 - Should have had two goals next to his name. Poor finishing from him let him down, his presence is inspirational on the pitch but his performances aren’t!
Jones - 7 - Top first half, had the Stoke back four in turmoil. Second half seemed to just fizzle out.
Ashton - 7 - Did his job….