Dario made the changes we said he’d make. Higdon was dropped as Moses was drafted in, Billy moved into the midfield and Wright took his position in the right back spot. It gave the team a much better balance. Dean Ashton recovered from injury to reclaim his place in the team. New signing Eamon Zayed was left out of the squad, although he did travel down. Walsall made a late change with star player Paul Merson out ill. Ince Wright - Foster - Moses - Tonkin Rix - Sorvel - B.Jones - Lunt Ashton - S.Jones The opening minutes at the Bescot were dull, to say the least. Crewe felt happy to sit and let Walsall attack whilst we failed make anything on the counter attack. Jorge Leitao had the first chance of the match five minutes in, that’s five minutes without any decent attacks. His shot from the edge of the area had Ince right in front of it and it was an easy catch. It took Ince a few goal kicks till he hit one down the centre and when one did it brought a lot of ironic cheers from behind his goal, where the Alex fans sat. Outfield play was also very poor. Billy Jones, in the midfield, couldn’t quite get into the game and Sorvel was just awful with his distribution. Ashton, up front, couldn’t get onto the unfamiliar long balls from the back leaving him with few opportunities. The best chance for the Alex in the first 20 or so minutes was a header from David Wright. Jones picked the ball up on the left flank and after a little bit of foot entertainment found Wright, who was the unlikely man getting forward, the ball was just a tad too high for him to head it down and the ball flew up in the air before being eventually cleared. I’ve seen worst Crewe performances but it certainly wasn’t the best. Rix and Sorvel failed to get a grip and pass the ball to a grey shirt and it put us under pressure. One break saw a chance go begging for Walsall - a ball across the face of the goal by Aranalde slid under David Wright’s sliding foot and when it looked like Leitao was going to slide in and toe poke it home… he went and got his studs stuck into the soil and the ball fortunately rolled out of danger. Ashton could have also taken time over his chance when a good slick move from Crewe allowed the build up to Ashton who found himself unmarked in the area. From the right side of the area he teed up his shot but sent the ball whizzing over the crossbar. The hopes of going ahead were given a set back when we gave away an awful goal. Ben Rix and Anthony Tonkin went to clear a routine ball on the by line but Rix needlessly gave the ball away to Simon Osbourne who whipped a cross straight in and Jorge Leitao just guided the ball into the far left corner leaving Ince with no chance. After that we were a mess. Wasn’t to say we didn’t have our chances, as Ashton had a good header tipped over the bar after a Wright cross, but we were hoofing it here and losing the ball there. We weren’t responding to what you could call the ‘wake up call’. Walsall were still allowed to get down the wings in two’s and three’s and we refused to challenge for balls on the edge of the area. Jorge Leitao had an excellent opportunity when the Alex defence were napping when Walsall cleared a corner, Leitao ran the length of the Crewe half free on goal but his shot was thumbled out by Ince and Wracks rebound header from 2 yards was cleared off the line by Wright, whilst our only other chances of the first half came from a shot from David Wright, just inside the area, which flew well over and Billy Jones tried to re-live his Wigan glory with a volley but this one flew well wide. It was a poor performance and with Walsall looking like easy prey whenever we went forward it just frustrated fans even more. Second Half Whatever Dario said to the team in the dressing room is anyone’s guess but at least it worked! We instantly hit Walsall down the wings with Lunt and Wright putting in crosses. Within 3 minutes of the re-start we should have been level. Billy Jones hit a chipped over Patterson, in the Walsall goal, it was helped on its way with a deflection but Patterson managed to claw it out of the goal, the ball bounced static 3 yards out where Steve Jones and Dean Ashton bundled it into the net. A very late flag went up for offside. From where I was it seemed Ashton and Jones were both onside until Patterson touched the ball… but that wouldn’t matter anyway! It should have stood as a goal and from the look of the linesman not long after that - he knew it should have stood. Crewe were riled and ready to make sure the next one stood. Walsall sat back on the edge of the area allowing us to mount attack after attack. Crewe bombarded the Walsall goal and with Foster having one of his best games in a Alex shirt his heading was superb time and time again. Foz actually forced Patterson to parry his powerful header off the line with Samways completing the clearance from the left post. Not long after the hour mark Foster forced another goal line clearance when he headed downwards. The Alex fans cheered insisting it went over the lined but Walsall hooked it away and got away with it. On another day we could have been 1-2 up within 15 minutes but their keeper was having a excellent performance whilst their defence rode their luck. With 22 minutes left Walsall managed one of few shots on target in the 2nd half with a Gary Wales, making his debut for the midlands club, 18 yard shot which Ince managed to gather easily enough. It gave Walsall enough incentive to have a good 5 minute spell of possession but apart from a header which whiskered the far right post - nothing came of it. As some Crewe fans felt it was over, with 10 minutes left, they headed for their cars as Crewe started to take control of the game once again. Dario brought on Paul Edwards for Neil Sorvel, which brought the Crewe end erupting with ironic cheers as Sorvel left the pitch. Edwards went up front with Dean Ashton and Steve Jones went on the right wing. It was probably the best thing we did all day. Within seconds of coming on Edwards plucked out a long ball from Wright on the edge of the area. Walsall defenders scrambled back to try and cover as Edwards brought the ball down but could only hook it well wide of the far right post. We kept pressing with Steve Jones taking Aranalde to the cleaners with his pace. Jones nearly scored a stunner when he rounded one Walsall player before dropping his shoulder in front of Aranalde and after cutting into the penalty area he could only fire his shot a foot over the bar. Wright and Jones were working well down the right and same goes for Tonkin and Rix down the left. With the clock running down the Alex couldn’t help but frustrate fans with some more poor passing or short corners which never took us anywhere but back to Ince. With five minutes left you felt that if we hadn’t scored yet then we won’t score at all; that was until Foster took the glory. Lunt crossed one in from the right wing and found Foster breaking free from the scramble. For some reason Patterson came rushing out as Foster just flicked the ball over the keeper in no mans land and the ball bounced into the back of the net. Foz went crazy over scoring his 2nd of the season, and interestingly became only the 4th Alex player to score more than 1 goal this season. We didn’t sit back, although it wasn’t likely we’d get another goal. Leitao smashed high into the double decker stand behind Ince’s goal before Edwards and Ashton both fired shots out of the ground from the edge of the area. The game finished 1-1. I’m happy with a point, after the first half. Lets hope it gets us back on track for the next game, in two weeks, at Bradford. Vaughan, who we’re missing enormously, and Cochrane are back for it and even Brammer could make a appearance…. Things are looking up. Man of the match yesterday was, without a doubt, Stephen Foster. Tackle after tackle and header after header. He was immense. It was partly helped with his reunion with Adie Moses. Moses, who hadn’t played since November, was also immense. Yesterdays back four is our best, Tonkin, Fosterm, Moses and Wright. Moses adds the calmness and experience to the midfield and is just as good as Foster at tackling and getting back in tricky situations. That back four will lead up us the league. The turning point of the game was probably Steve Jones moving to the wing. It’s a move that we could possibly use for most away games. You hear moans of “but he’s our top scorer”, but he took Walsall apart on the wing, compared to his static appearances up front. Edwards came on and looked to be getting better - give the boy time to get games under his belt and pick up some experience, he’ll hopefully come good. We were unlucky to have a dodgy keeper having the game of his life until the 85th minute, any other day we could have won 3-1 or 4-1 with the second half performance. Anyway, lets build on the second half and if Brammer, Cochrane and Vaughan are back… lets get some more wins on the table. Can’t stand Stoke being above us. |