Red Illuminations!
Last updated : 25 November 2002 By Site Staff
 | 1-0 to the Railwaymen! |
|
It was a win that has put us 7 points clear of saturdays opponents, obviously something Dario wanted. dario named a surprise formation and squad. Leaving Sorvel and Rix out he opted to play a 4-2-4 formation with Ashton and Hulse the two hitmen. Vaughan and Jack played just ahead of Brammer and Lunt, who were in the middle, down the flanks and a back four of Tierney, Walton, Foster and Sodje. It was a formation which many doubted but it seemed to work with Rodders causing terror down the right and Vaughan holding the ball well down the left despite him not looking his fit self.Well Crewe started dominant and Jack looked on form. The first goal
 | Hulse elbowed |
|
came for Crewe 6 minutes in when Brammer got past his man to go down the left where he squared it from the edge of the area and as Barnes stood there Hulse knocked it into the back of the net from 4 yards out. 1-0 and a well deserved lead. Normally after a goal we sit back and hit on the break instead we got the ball right back and went on the attack and Dean Ashton could have made it 2 or 3-0 when he picked the ball up on the edge of the area, did a little trick and smashed it goalwards but a fantastic diving save saw his shot parried out for a corner. From the resulting corner Fosters header down bounced up off the post and Ashton's rebound header could only be directed onto the post. Blackpool looked average as  | Excellent Performances from Walton and Lunt |
|
Crewe looked rampant wanting more goals but Blackpool did start to ease back into the game. Long shots were again the only source of ways to get the ball near the net as the defence stood firm with very impressive displays and when Blackpool did try and get in our box Ince commanded well and didn't let them in. Tempers started to get abit nasty inside the Alexandra stadium and just after Blackpools long term of possesion Thorton got himself booked for 'pushing Jack' although a red card would have been lucky! From what i saw Thornton had Jack round the neck then threw him onto the floor most referees would have given straight reds for that. Minutes later John Hills also got booked after kicking Sodje in the back of the legs after the ball had gone out for a throw in. Then AGAIN only minutes later John Hills saw red, Jack skinned him and got himself a clear run down the right but Hills had other idea's and pulled Jack down to the floor as the referee wasted no time in handing out the 2nd yellow and then the red. From then on Blackpool were non existant as Crewe ruled them out of the game with quick slick passing but they | Hulse and Ashton duet again |
|
did have one flash shot when Dalglish's shot looked to be going in but a late, but quick, reaction saw Trinidads number one down sbut stretched to gather the ball. Before all that happened though Crewe were reduced to ten men, for a while at least, after a clash of heads saw walton leave the field for a few stitches and returned 5 minutes later.
Half time and no-one could really complain we were creating alot of chances and needed a 2nd goal to seal all doubts away. However, unlike normally, it was a matter of when that goal was going to come and not if.  | Hits the bar |
|
So in the second half Crewe started where they left off, piling the pressure on the Blackpool defence. Dario made sure Blackpool had a bigger weight as he moved Tierney into midfield about 10 minutes into the second half to really push for the 2nd goal. It came! albeit later than expected and by the unusual name of Sodje no Alex fan were complaining. After many hopeless attempts this season a long floated corner found Sodje at the far post who headed a beuty of a ball into the net as Barnes could do nothing in goal, this was only Sodje's 3rd goal of his Alex career, his last coming on the last day of the season last season. Crewe continued to dominate but a few linesman decisions didn't quite go our way when Ashton and Hulse were caught offside one saw Hulse run clear, round the keeper and bury the ball but the whistle had gone quite a while before for off-sdie. It didn't matter though when Tierney grabbed his first goal at the Alex a free kick from down the right saw the ball bounce inside the area  | You better had mark Hulse to keep him out. |
|
bouncing past 21 players who stood there and watched the ball bounce over the line for a 3rd Alex goal as the Alex were sailing to the biggest home win of the campaign. Ashton had a 45 yard thunderbolt chip go inches wide and if it had been on target it would have been 4-0 and goal of the season, fantastic. From then on Crewe just raked up the possesion with excellent passing, the ball just floated around the defence midfield area as the 1,000 odd Blackpool fans filtered out before the final whistle.The gap between us and Bristol City remains at 3 points as they won 5-4 at Mansfield, the only team to drop points in the top 5 were Oldham who drew with Cheltenham. So 3 points off Bristol City we can't go 4th by winning on Saturday but we can close the gap to 0 points and with them having 1 game in hand we really need a win to stay in touching distance of the top two.
It's four wins on the trot now, the second best form record in the league at the moment. after losing to Wigan, Luton and Plymouth in the space of four games we now find ourselfs only been taken points off once(2nd Nov at Wigan) this month and that was only because of Mark "Tosser" Cooper in charge... What a difference a month makes!
A win at Bristol City on Saturday will make us the inform team of the second division, with Bristol holdoing onto a 12 game unbeaten run, and puts Dario in prime position for Manager of the month. Also with over rated Earnshaw and St*ckports Beckett not scoring while Hulse scored in the 6th minute .... guess who Division Two's top scorer??!!!
We must thank SEASIDERS.NET for their photos or they will do something bad to us, something involving court :). There are a couple of others on their site.