 | Dave Brammer - Absolute god! |
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A dissapointing result for the 1,000 or so Crewe fans that travelled today, we should have won that game by many goals. It's the same excuse though, we couldn't convert our chances to finish northampton off as Hulse and Ashton put in a disaapointing display. In the first half, for the first 20 minutes we were acutally on the back foot and it was worrying times for the Alex but the chances Northampton did create were minimal and the ones they did create just bobbled into Ince's hands. The tide changed though when Sodje got injured, strangly, Daryn Stamp a recent cobblers signing and Efe Sodje both clashed and were both down for about 4 minutes reciving treatment. Sodje ended up getting stictches and Stamp got substituted after injuring his knee in the challnged. Chances were then galore in the first half, but creating them was abit of a problem, we seemed to keep trying to pass it to Ashton but Northampton would block it every time but the one time Ashton did break away from a Northampton player he used his pace and skill to get into the box but he took 1 extra touch that wasn't needed and his shot was smothered by goalkeeper Harper. Then only a few minutes later he missed again, it was only worse, 10 yards out and a cross from the Superb Brammer found Ashton 10 yards from the goal line, his shot sailed out of the ground!!! I wonder where that ball is now? We scored though! On the 30th minute a flick on from Hulse and Ashton found Sorvel 20 yards out with the ball facing the net, Sorvel smacked it goalwards and with abit of curle it hit the back of the net and the Crewe fans went crazy. Northamptons best chance of the first half was on the 35th minute when a cross from the right caught Ince out and a Northampton player found him self with the ball facing an empty net on the penalty spot but after delayed reactions from him Foster had time to collect the ball and boot it to safety, saving our keepers skin once again! At the back Foster and Sodje were superb and bothing got past them, it seems the World Cup has done Sodje nothing but good, he went as an excellent premiership quality player and he's come back better!
So Crewe carried on playing a patient passing game, alot slower than last year,
 | Wasted chances. |
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and well and truly took the piss out of Northampton in footballing terms. Half time came and the spirits were high, it was top of the league for Crewe... well, It WAS.
In the second half we saw an offside show performed by Hulse and Ashton. They probably canculated up 25 off-sides because we had a cr*p linesman and they are to impatient when if they waited they could make up for the slowness with their pace and skill which could rip this division apart. Back to the action. Northampton again came out stronger, hitting the post infact. A Paul McGregor shot from just outside the area went through a crowd of about 8 to hit the outside of the far left post. Nothing changed in Dario's tactics, it was 4-3-3 with Rix playing just behind Hulse and Ashton and playing a very slow passing game. Apart from a few qeak headers from Hulse and Ashton chances weren't being created as much as the Alex sat back on a 1-0 lead with 30 minutes to go. On the 74t minute Dean Ashton had the best chance of the second half, after skipping through 2 players on the edge of the area Dean pulled off a curling snap shot which Harper just about pushed over fore a corner - the corner was wasted.Crewe had a scare soon after on the 80th minute when Jamie Forrester picked up a mis placed Sodje pass and ran into the area where onrushing Clayton Ince met him with a whallope and despite a blatant foul on the former Alex target the referee had said play on!!! We were just about surviving and all the Crewe fans saw the 3
 | We deserved the win! |
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points. Lee Bell came on for Rix just beofore that event and Colin Little came on for goalscorer Sorvel. Things seemed fine until Dave Brammer, of all players, gave away the ball to N'Hampton which lead to the corner which lead to the goal. He corner was taken and when it was brought down in the area there was alot of scrapping until the ball bulged the net and Alex fans put their hands to their hands in disbelief. Lee Bell nearly won the game when he ut inside the area and pull of a very hard shot from a tight angle but unfortunatley the keeper parried it out. Northampton found excuses to waste time and did so as the Alex went off feeling like they had just lost.
Lets not dwell too much on this draw, lets concertrate more on supporting them on Tuseday - lets see a packed house for the return of football to Gresty Road! Let the team get used to life in Div 2 before judging!!!
Player ratings and Managers comments coming later today. Sorry about the quality of the report - i forgot to save one i made earlier which was 2 pages long and i had to type this in half an hour at 3am in the morning.