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Foggy, wet and cold summed up the wheather but a healthy crowd of Crewe faithful turned up of around 300-400 despite the wheather, time of year and the £21 admission fee. Start of the game Swindon went straight up their end and attacked with a ball crossed from the right from Miglioranzi(I admit i used C&P) which went straight accross the face of the goal where Wright picked it up and sent Jack running from the half way line down the right and into the area, rarther like at Swindon earlier in the season, but his shot hit the side netting.
10 minutes in and Swindon registered their first shot at goal after more or less dominating play but it was a lame effort with Duke's weak shot from outside the area going wide. 1 minute later and Dean Ashton showed his skill. Picking up the ball halfway inside the Swindon half just to the right of the goal he cut inside and skipped past one Swindon player and up came another where he dropped his shoulder and from 30 yards out he sent a curling thunderbolt into the far left corner but it literally skimmed the crossbar.
5 minutes later Deano got his 7th goal in as many games when a superb curling cross from Lunt found Ashton with more space than he needed which meant he had time to let the ball fall for him to slot it into the bottom far right corner.
Crewekept bringing pressure upon themselfs with stupid passes going astray one being Brammer cooly breaking up a Swindon attack before taking it out wide and trying to backheel it into the path of Tierney, which didn't work and sent Swind on the attack but luckily they scuppered their chance with a rubbish cross being cleared.
30 minutes in and Reeves had a shot from the left after cutting in from the flanks but hit it accross the face of the goal and wide. A minute later and Invincible's 6 yard shot was weak and straight at Ince.
5 minutes later Jack was set free and clearly onside with noone to beat but the lineman had other ideas and put his flag up. We just started to edge possesion now with Tierney and Wright getting further forward. Swindon did have one great chance to level things though. Sam Parkin had a long ball hit up to him but Foster and Walton tried to play the offside trap - didn't work. He raced clear on goal to round Ince but Ince rushed out an made a brave last ditch tackle on Parkin inside the area to clear.
A couple of minutes later though the Alex extended the lead. Jack raced in and out of defenders looking to get a clear site on goal but was brought down but Matt Heywood about 25 yards out straight in front of goal. Lunt chipped the free kick in the area where Ashton from the penalty spot flicked it at goal it hit the crossbar and came down off the line but Foster reacted first and ran in to head home to claim his 3rd goal of the season.
Vaughan was then booked for a two footed tackle, Vaughan wasn't quite himself though with late balls and crap passing. Miglioranzi troubled Ince for the first time when charging down the right in first half stoppage time he cut inside the area and powered a shot at goal but Ince got firm hands to parry over. Some Swindon fans thought it was in when it hit the back of the net - but it was the wrong 'back'. The resulting corner led to the last kick of the half.
Swindon came out in the second half with intentions to get the game back. They knew we weren't our best and we would easily make mistakes. First minute and they showed that intention with Steve Robinson drilling a curling ball just wide from 25 yards - looked as though Incey had it covered anyway. A couple of minutes later and Invincibile forced a save from Ince with a 25 yard free kick curling in Ince jumped accross the goal to parry it wide. A Lunt free-kick-cross kind of thing was easily caught by the Swindon keeper.
Then a goal mouth sramble when Hewletts shot was saved by Ince but only to a Swindon player on the penalty spot who smashed at goal but Foz got it clear. Phew. 5 minutes later and it was wrapped up for Christmas. Tierney set Ashton racing away from just inside the Swindon half with claims of offside being thrown out of the window. Ashton ran clear at goal into the area where he squared it for Jack on the penalty spot to knock into a empty net. 3 shots and 3 goals - quality team.
As tinme went by it looked less likley Swindon were going to get anything until abit of action in the Alex penalty area led to Walton handling the ball, penalty. Parkin stepped up and sent Ince the wrong way. 3-1 with 15 minutes left. Ashton went back up the other end and picked the ball up inside the Crewe area and knew what he wanted to do. He got clear past about 5 Swindon players and if he had just taken his time to get past the last man he would have been clear on goal to score but unfortunatley he hit the ball abit to long to give Swindon a chance to clear. Ashton was just brimming with confidence - what difference a month makes.
The last bit of major action was for Swindon. A ball crossed in and nearly every player on the pitch was in the area and all i could see was a bunch of 19 players in a big huddle before the ball came firing out of that group but wide.
3-1 it ended and the perfect way to go into christmas. 9 games unbeaten. Scored 26 in those 9, conceded just 4. Won our last 6 home games. The gap between us and 2nd place is just 5 points - less than the gap between us and 4th place was at the start of the month.
You can now eat your christmas dinner in peace now knowing that the Alex could go third with a win over Cheltenham and see out 2002 in 2nd place!!!! All that after being 7th on 2nd of November.
Bring it on!