Unbeaten in 6 home games it was time for the last game before Christmas and it was at home to fellow promotee’s Wigan Athletic. A team that can play football but just are a pain in the back side with their drama queen act and telling the referee what he should do. It was time for men against boys, literally. With seven players out injured and the likes of Vaughan, Brammer, Rix, McCready, Moses, Walker & Sorvel all likely to walk straight back into the first 16 when they return - it simply wasn’t going to be easy. With 16 years young Billy Jones in the defence, he equalled a defence with a combined age of just 75 with Wigan’s being 109. Michael Higdon also made his debut in the midfield after a string of impressive reserve games.
Along with that was a very young bench, Gary Roberts at 16, James Robinson at 20 and Paul Edwards at 21 were joined with the more experienced Allan Smart and Ade Bankole.
INCE
TONKIN WRIGHT FOSTER B.JONES
LUNT HIGDON COCHRANE
VARNEY ASHTON S.JONES
Despite games at grounds no more than 20 minutes away being called off Crewe’s got the go ahead and the club finally started to reap rewards from the state of the art drainage system installed 2 years go. The wind was blowing from left to right and rain was hammering down on one of the best pitches Gresty Road is likely to see in December.
The game started in typical Crewe fashion, we refused to break into a sweat and allowed Wigan to pressure us. Gary Teale down their right side was ripping Tonkin apart with his tricky pace and neat foot work. It was Andy Liddell who went closest first with a 30 yard dipping shot skimming the roof of the net on 4 minutes.
After 6 minutes Crewe finally had a break but with Lunt and Jones charging forward with the ball it soon broke down when there was an empty box. Crewe seemed to be just finding their feet in the game when Wigan hit us hard with a soft goal. Very poor marking allowed Wigan to simply cut through our frail defence before Lee McCulloch hand acres of space and plenty of time to turn and slot the ball home from 10 yards. 0-1.
Crewe kicked off again and went straight up the other end with Ashton’s close control and power managing to force a corner out of Wigan. From the corner Billy Jones 25-30 yards out waited for the ball complete unmarked. Lunt chipped it towards Billy who simply smashed it into the top left corner off the cross bar. He’s a defender who can play midfield, both defensive and attack and then you get him, at sixteen, scoring goals like that. There are words to describe what a class act Billy Jones is. Lets put it this way - by far the best ever academy product. Goal of the season already.
So at 1-1, with the equaliser coming just 55 seconds after Wigan’s opener. On the 11th minute Luke Varney scuppered Ashton’s chance of going clear on goal. Deano broke the offside trap but Varney failed to realise he was offside before making a run down the wing.
Five minutes later saw Steve Jones do a tad better - and put Crewe in the lead. David Wright lofted a ball over the Wigan defence and Steve Jones’ pace took him away from Wigan’s back four. The ball, unfortunately , smacked Jones on his back as he ran but luckily it bounced right in front of him and from the edge of the area he slotted it under the keepers legs to make it 2-1.
Again, though, our young defence struggled to cope when Wigan attacked again. It was Gary Teale again causing so much havoc down the right. Teale laid it off to Eaden on the right wing on level with the area, Eaden crossed it and at a awkward height it found it’s way to the far post and from 8 yards De Vos struck it at goal - Steve Jones seemed to clear it off the line but it was quite clearly a couple of yards over the line. 2-2 after 20 minutes… the game was simply mad.
It soon settled down, after a horrendous tackle of Luke Varney from Alan Rogers. Varney volleyed the ball clear from the area but Alan Rogers flew in with a high foot and took Varney’s ankle. Varney went down in agony before Alan Rogers was rightfully booked. Two minutes later, 24th minute, saw a free kick given to Wigan for no real reason. Alan Rogers and Varney both slid in, fairly, for a free ball but Rogers seemed to pull a muscle and a free kick, from 25 yards out, was given. Shoddy refereeing. The free-kick was punched clear by Ince.
Five minutes later Billy Jones continued to impress and worried the keeper again with a great cross. The 16 year old smashed it from 40 yards out into the box the the looping ball nearly caught keeper John Filan out as it looked like nearly sneaking in at the far left post. By now the game had really settled down and both teams were playing decent football. Crewe fans couldn’t put up with Wigan being a bunch of drama queens and their constant sucking up to the referee but Crewe have got to learn how to handle these teams. We’re running away with the fair play league, again, and it comes as no coincidence when we have more bookings and sending’s off against Wigan than any other team in the past 4 years.
Wigan should have, probably, gone down to ten men with 5 minutes left in the first half. Ashton broke down the right wing and with his pace and strength got goal side of the defence. Jason Jarrett, knowing he had no chance of catching Ashton, brought Dean Ashton down by the arm of his shirt 30 yards out. Jarrett was pretty much the last defender but Wigan players sucked up to the referee with 4 surrounding him which could have only been the reason Jarrett was let off with a yellow card.
With five minutes left of the first half and 20 minutes of dullness the tempo was upped again as both teams realised that a goal now would certainly damage any confidence the opposition had. Wigan were the ones who went closest on the 44th minute. Nathan Ellington turned turned Foster to get goal side of him, from the edge of the box Ellingtn smashed it towards the top right corner. The ball flew past the post, the net rattled and the Wigan fans went ape - thinking they had taken the lead. Most Crewe fans thought they had taken the lead and for a minute the referee gave them the goal until the linesman pointed out the ball had actually gone wide of the right post and hit the side netting - goal kick. Wigan fans sat down in utter embarrassment.
Second Half
The first 20 minutes of the second half were nothing like the first half. Mainly because nothing happened. Well, on the hour mark Steve Jones tried his luck with a over head kick from Higdon’s cross put Filan managed to parry it out for a corner. The corner, as usual, came to nothing. Two minutes later Justin Cochrane showed his usual attitude to anyone who gives him sh*t. The lovable cockney had obviously been targeted at half time by Wigan as he was pushed and bullied all over the part, Justin gave his marker, Bullard, a typical reply as he slid in and took Bullards legs. Cochrane received his 5th yellow of the season - meaning he’ll be suspended for the trip to Preston on the 28th.
On the 68th minute Crewe and Steve Foster can probably see themselves fortunate to stay with 11 men. Ellington once again got the better of Foster and it looked as if Foster was the last man when he miss timed his tackle from 40 yards out. Thankfully the referee didn’t see it that way and Foster was booked.
In a fairly dull second half when it came to chances it was only Lee McCulloch’s volley which forced Ince to break sweat and actually drop the ball, fortunate enough to recover. The game was full of good movement from both teams and both teams had period of play where they could have nicked it.
Unfortunately it was Wigan who did nick it. With ten minutes to go Bullard cut in from the left wing with Billy Jones looking like having him under control. However with Ince poorly positioned Bullard smashed a lob over Ince into the far right corner from the edge of the area. 3-2 with just ten minutes left.
Crewe threw everything at Wigan. With only a couple of minutes left it looked like Crewe had amazingly equalised. Lunt hoofed fit in from the wing, it bounced down to Ashton to smashed it at goal and it bobbled into the back of the net. The referee gave a goal with the Crewe fans cheering but then the linesman flagged for a free kick. Whatever the reason….. It was onside, there didn’t appear to be any handball and there certainly was no foul on anyone. Shocking piece of refereeing.
So that was that. It could have been a win or draw but we simply didn’t have it in us. Wigan fans may see it as an excuse but with 7 players out injured we were well and truly under a injury crisis. All of those 7 would go into my first 16 and 5 of them would go into my starting 11.
It was something Dario mis-judged. Michael Higdon was clearly unsettled for 90 minutes in the centre of midfield. His debut wasn’t the greatest but certainly not the worst. Needs to learn a lot over this season. The defeat could have been depressing with Christmas ruined but one star shone over the rest who gave us hope at Christmas…. Billy Jones. Teams call their 20 year old’s wonder kids, Everton call Rooney a wonder kid but Billy doesn’t even compare to that riff raff. Billy Jones is the best U-19 player I’ve ever seen. He’s shown he’s worth his first team spot over his 8 game run. At 16 years of age he’s more than matched anyone in this division. He’s been swapped about from centre back to central midfield to right back and after 8 starts in under a month he still continues to astonish crowds.
His goal is already being touted the best ever seen at Gresty Road, and why not? It’s unbelievable that Bullards every day lob gets more of a mention in the press than Billy’s 25 yard first time volley into the top corner. Only Chris Kamara on SKY TV pointed out this boys talents, with Tim Flowers also praising him after working with Billy for the Eng U-16s(When Billy was 14). He not only shows a great shot but he shows massive array of passing, in gale conditions. He shows great tackling, with Ellington running free on goal he races back to do a tackle from behind and come out of it with the ball at his feet. He shows great marking, he didn’t let anyone get a yard ahead of him. Then he shows that sort of shot…. I believe he’s the best ever academy product… can anyone disagree?