Confidence was never higher inside the club before the game at Bramall Lane yet only around 300 managed to brave the Snake Pass on a freezing Tuesday night. We were looking for a 6th game unbeaten in Yorkshire and Dario named the same team that beat Reading over the weekend.
INCE
WRIGHT FOSTER WALKER TONKIN
LUNT SORVEL COCHRANE VAUGHAN
ASHTON JONES
On the bench were B.Jones, Rix, Smart, Barrowman and Ade Bankole. The referee in yellow wasn’t welcomed with open arms by the Crewe faithful, Mark Cooper is yet to be forgiven for his dreadfully biased performance in Wigan last season. The started very quietly with neither team having urgency about their play. Crewe saw abit more of the ball than Sheffield United but nothing was quite getting through to Ashton and Jones.
The 17,000 crowd was so silent you could hear the players shouting and it was until the 9th minute that the crowd woke up. An intelligent flick on from Dean Ashton bounced high inside the right of the box Vaughany, from nowhere, beat the onrushing keeper to the ball and just managed to lob it over the keeper on goal but it bounced, what looked, inches wide.
This gave us the belief that Sheffield United’s defence was vulnerable and the Jones soon had the ball in the back of the net. 3 minutes after Vaughany hit wide he was involved again and his neat foot work saw him break down the left, he then released the pacey Anthony Tonkin. Tonks hammered a ball across goal where Jonah picked it up at the far post and lobbed it over the keeper, who was on the floor. The flag was up straight away. Whether it was a offside or not, I don’t know, Crewe fans were a pitch length away.
On the quarter of an hour mark Vaughan was involved again, this time from a Lunt free kick on the edge of the area. It was floated in from the right but Vaughan’s volley was way way wide.
It gave Sheffield United abit of a wake up call, with their only threat coming from the very quick Peter Ndlovu. Ndlovu was tearing Anthony Tonkin apart with his pace and dropping of the shoulder and little link ups with Phil Jagielka. One of Ndlovu’s runs was finished with a powerful shot but straight into the arms of Clayton Ince.
Pretty even stevens it was harsh on us when Sheffield United took the lead on the 20th minute. The ball was lobbed into the box by Alan Wright and whilst Jack Lester looked offside the Crewe defenders were in a mix up when Chris Armstrong jumped above Walker to send a weak header at goal, Ince stood flat footed as the ball bounced in off the post along the line before hitting the net. Poor defending was the only excuse.
After this the team looked hard done by, deflated and just lazy. Passes were going astray and the Sheffield United fans were roaring their team on with every attack. Within 60 seconds Sheff Utd were unlucky not to double their lead. Chris Armstrong’s cross into the centre of the penalty area was met by a awkward weak Jack Lester shot that beat Ince but bounced back off the right post. Crewe went up the other end and attack with Lunt winning a free kick. The free kick was floated in but Foster’s header was wide. Foster also got a boot in the face whish needed some treatment.
Sheffield United threatened for the rest of the first half with play on the edge of our penalty area. Shots were closed down whilst Sheffield United won corners. Phil Jagielka got a free header when McCall’s shot was deflected wide but Jagielka could only hit it 5 yards wide.
On the half hour mark our performance was pretty much summed up when Steve Jones cut inside from the right on the edge of the area and tried to curl his shot into the top corner but Ashton jumped and blocked it allowing Sheff Utd to attack.
Sheff Utd hit shot after shot. Robert Kozluk hit a shot which grazed over the bar and Jack Lester’s wasn’t quite close enough to worry the Alex back four. Lester’s 40th minute striker was though. The defence backed off as he brought the ball to the edge of the area and the former Grimsby trainee curled one from 25 yards Ince had it covered but just managed to thumble it abit too much and showed more of the ball to Ashley Ward than he would have liked.
Ince brought the comedy moment of the first half when he picked up a loose ball inside the area , chested it down before trying to dribble the ball forward only to totally miss kick the ball and run ahead without it.
The half closed on a positive note when Jonah forced the Sheff Utd keeper, Paul Gerrard, to tip round the post.
Second Half
In the second half it was one way traffic. The ball was hardly ever seen inside the Sheffield United half as they went on attack upon attack. Jack Lester and former Alex favourite, who got a little cheer at the start of the match, Ashley Ward were probably the most lively strikers we’ve faced this season.
Sheffield United were just looking to finish us off and with better finishing we could have been heading for our biggest defeat in 20 years, beating the Coventry 6-1 thrashing. Thankfully Sheff Utd weren’t great finishers. Lester smashed a low shot past the far right post from 8 yards while Ndlovu tried a shot from 20 yards which sailed into the ‘kop’ end.
The Sheffield United fans smelt blood and were roaring their team on while Crewe fans could do nothing but feel embarrassed at the ineptness of our play. Sorvel could string one pass together and summed up his game when he went in a two footed tackle on …. David Vaughan. Vaughan tried but failed. Cochrane and Lunt hustled and harried but neither were on their game. The back four were just shocking. Wright was given the run around by Alan Wright, Tonkin was given the run around by Ndlovu and Walker couldn’t handle Lester for his life. Foster was the only half decent defender. Up front was probably our best play, Ashton ran his socks off in a Hulse fashion and scared Sheffield United defence to death but when the other 10 players can’t put a pass together it’s hard to make anything happen.
On the hour mark Chris Morgan won a free header from a corner but it flashed just over the bar. Ashley Ward copied him when Ndlovu got the better of Tonkin - again. Whist Ndlovu’s cut into the area saw his low shot flash past the post into the side netting with a proportion of the home fans thinking they had a second.
When Jack lester riggled through challenges from Sorvel and Lunt all Walker could do to stop him going free on goal was to simply bring him down. Mark Cooper booked him which led to Dario bringing Walker off, knowing that Mark Cooper would LOVE to send someone off. Walker was replaced by 16 year old Billy Jones, who’d only played 2 minutes in a red shirt before.
You couldn’t have told though. Jones was superb and had Lester in his back pocket and not once did Lester get the better of the youngster in his 20 minute spell. He was calm, assured and confident in what he was doing and certainly looks one hell of a prospect.
He played no part in the second goal though. Jack Lester was closed down in the area by Kenny Lunt and David Wright the ball bounced abit before appeals for handball and Mark Cooper was all too happy to give it. To me it was ball to hand but with Cooper around anything and everything is a foul. Ince tried to put Lester off by pacing up and down the goal line and up to the penalty spot and back but Lester had none of it and sent Ince the wrong way. Two nil with 20 minutes left.
After that Sheffield United settled back but still had time to test Ince. A shot from the centre of the penalty area by Ashley Ward seemed to be heading in at the bottom right corner but Ince’s quick reactions saw him turn it round the post.
Dario tried to salvage a goal in the final ten minutes with Ben Rix and Alan Smart coming on but the closest we got was Alan Smart touching the ball on the edge of the area. Whoo.
A game that we deserved to be thrashed in. One of the worst performances of 2003. Passing was depressingly dreadful, Sorvel was shown up and so were Tonkin and Wright. No player had a good game but Dean Ashton’s work rate was superb and he did look threatening every time he got the ball. I don’t think we ever got into the penalty box in the second half and were simply out fought by a strong Sheffield United side.
On Saturday we’ve got to improve and get three points. Gillingham are, on paper, the only beatable team we have till Christmas but if we carry on playing like we did last night then kiss good bye to a top half finish. Moses and Brammer will prove a massive boost once they come back into the side, whether that be Saturday or in a couple of weeks at home to Sunderland.
Hopefully it was just a one off bad performance and the players can redeem themselves on Saturday.
MOTM: Dean Ashton.