There was a definite gloom around Gresty Road for the match against Rotherham. Only 6,670 ignored the FA Cup, Grand National and wet weather as Radio Stoke tried to build the match up to something bigger than the first two.
The team was fairly predictable. Steve Jones and Chris McCready out with Adie Moses and Dave Wright in, seeing the following:
Williams
B.Jones - Foster - Moses - Wright
Lunt - Cochrane - Sorvel - Vaughan
Ashton - Hignett
Quiet as a mouse…
If you were unable to see then you’d find it hard to believe there were actually 6,670 people in the ground, the noise was deafeningly silent and it had the feeling’s of a pre-season friendly atmosphere. On the pitch was as different matter, we were looking fine and playing good stuff. Rotherham didn’t seem much cop and the midfield and attack combined well.
Vaughan was gliding through them like butter, but we expect no less, Cochrane and Sorvel meanwhile played as the two anchor men who stopped Rotherham in their tracks for the first 15 minutes. Rotherham weren’t intent on playing the pretty stuff but we never expected them too so no shocks there.
They did create the first real chance just as the game started to get dull, Rotherham were picking up possession and found us rather un interested, 19th minute called for Ben Willams to make a couple of wonder saves.
Monkhouse somehow found space in the penalty area and had a shot from 18 yards left of the area, Williams dived to his left and palmed it out, it only went to Proctor who, from 14 yards, turned and had another shot but Ben was equal to that as well as Foz cleared the ball out.
Four minutes, and 23 seconds to be precise, Stephen Foster had our best chance and wasted it. A free header from 10 yards, from a corner, went begging only for him to smash over. Craig Hignett fired a 30 yard shot at the top right corner but the ball bounced back off the post… that keeps the nets up.
Then Kenny Lunt tried a testing shot from 30 yards but the dipping 25 yard shot went straight into the ’keepers hands. The best chance of the half, and probably match, came 10 minutes from half time. Ben Williams hoofed a goal kick up to Vaughan, Vaughany laid it off to Billy who chipped it to Dean Ashton just inside the box, Deano hit a sideways header for Cochrane who volleyed it but his powerful shot came back off the foot of the post.
It was the only highlight of the first half, as far as Crewe are concerned. It was still very subdued in around the ground and for a game apparently being the biggest of the season there wasn’t much encouragement coming from the ‘fans’.
The Grand Second Half…
It was even worse in the second half, for the first ten minutes half the ground had stayed in front of the TV’s watching The Grand National, whilst the players were obviously wishing they were joining them. Neither of the sides looked that arsed and the game was rubbish, plain rubbish. I’m struggling to write this report because of it, there’s nothing to write. It was nothingness.
Infact, I won’t even bother going into the depth of it. Lets see, Ben Williams had a few shots thrown at him from 25-30 yards but his handling was perfect. He made one fantastic save at the end from a free kick from 20 yards, a full stretched save to his left saw him catch the goal bound ball mid air.
Steve Jones came on, which brought the biggest cheer of the day, and Brammer stayed sat on the bench. But the other come back of David Wright nearly saw his 4th ever career goal, charging forward he curled a low shot towards the right bottom corner but it was tipped round the post. Steve Jones later was free, unmarked, at the far post when Lunt chipped a ball to him but the clever clogs tried a superb volley that he sadly missed (And I mean, his foot didn’t make contact with the ball) and made a idiot of himself.
Rotherham dominated the last 20 minutes but never looked threatening, apart from Jody Morris - but he was threatening for other reasons.
Wow, that second half sounded more exciting than it actually was….
Don‘t give me evils…
We aren’t going down for starters. This was our 48th point, now come on cynics… are 6 teams below us going to get 49 points without us picking up another point? And be serious. It won’t happen, will it? Now that’s cleared up….
Poor performance, poor game and two extremely poor teams. On our day we could have put four or five past Rotherham but against any other team we’d have been four or five down by the hour mark. I won’t moan though, it was a point and a point is worth a lot at these stages.
No one player played extremely poor it was just a poor team effort. Lack of commitment? Maybe, but with a young team like ours there’s always going to be that word that pops up CONFIDENCE. We simply have neither. Get this season out of the way, get a rest, new faces and get planning for our trips to Leeds, Man City and Wolves.
Nevertheless, I never come away from games without a annoyance or two. This week it’s booing and idiots. We’re fighting relegation, teams low on confidence and fans know this so what should we do? BOOOOOOO. No! Don’t be so stupid. “Think before you act”. We need encouragement not boos because we drew with Rotherham, if you booed the team then you should be ashamed of yourself.
Secondly, idiots… not any old idiots but clueless ones. The ones who call Kenny lazy, Deano lazy, the team 2nd division fodder, that we would be better off in Division One, that there’s no point in them renewing their season ticket, the ones that MOAN about every bloody thing on the planet. Cheer up for goodness sake. Crewe = Division One… be happy, smile, dance if you want… just don’t moan because we have 10 men in the box on corners!
I challenge each and everyone of you to just give one word of encouragement at your next game. Go on, try it, if you don’t like it then slip back into your disillusioned world.
Player Ratings
Williams - 8 - Kept us in the game, time and time again. I think he’s won us four points we wouldn’t have had with Ince in the side. I’d love to see him here next season onloan.
Wright - 6 - Not bad but not special.
Foster - 7 - The better defender on the pitch putting in tackle after tackle but was taken on walkies by his man a few too many times.
Moses - 6 - A couple of shaky moments but kept cool throughout the 90 minutes.
Billy - 6 - Starting to look as if he needs a rest. Defensive wise fine but going forward looked ‘different’.
Vaughan - 8 - Class, Class, Class. Again.
Cochrane - 8 - Battled hard and battled well, didn’t get pulled into Jody Morris’ bully boy tactics either. One of the better performers on the day.
Sorvel - 7 - Helped Cochrane in the ‘anchor’ roles. Played good.
Lunt - 7 - A lot of criticism has been aimed Kenny’s way, can’t see why. Found time and space and offered options going forward whilst helping Billy defend.
Ashton - 6 - Distinctly average.
Hignett - 6 - Distinctly average.