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Dario brought back Rob Hulse after the striker recovered from his groin strain sustained in training last Friday. The Crewe born frontman replaced Miles in the starting eleven, whilst Steve Foster returned in place of Efe Sodje and David Wright coming in for Chris McCreedy. The travelling faithful also saw a changed formation, the Railwaymen lined up with three centre halves in Foster, Walker and Wright, Vaughan and Little played wingback roles, with Brammer, Sorvel and Lunt strung across the middle and Jack given a striking role alongsie Hulsey.
The Alex started slowly, with Peterborough having the majority of the opening possession. A neat Alex passing move was a rare view of promising attacking play. The opening 25 minutes was all Peterborough as the Alex seemed a different side to the one which blew the Vale away with fast interchanging football on Tuesday. Posh had the possessional dominance but failed to capitalise on it. They brought good saves from Ince on three different occassions, Helgi Danielsson forcing Ince to make a reflex one handed save after hesitance in the Alex rearguard coupled with a poor clearance left the goal at the Posh mans mercy. The Alex approached halftime without troubling Tyler in the home goal. Whilst Adam Newton failed to open the scoring from three yards after good work from Jellyman. Colin Little was relieved of his wingback role and Dario reverted to the formation which had ended Vale's hopes of a league cup run. Steve Jones replaced Little and the Alex's adopted a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation.
Half time; Peterborough United 0 - Crewe Alexandra 0
Peterborough continued to have the upperhand without really testing Ince, yet the Alex continued where they left off, not creating a chance whilst looking fairly solid at the back. The teams were locked in a midfield battle for the majority of the second half, we neither side capable of unlocking the opposing defence. Rare glimpses of the pace of both Jack and Jones were the pinicle of the Alex's attacking promise and the game seemed destined for a bore draw!
Posh introduced fresh legs yet Dario resisted the oppertunity to bring on Ashton. The Alex began to show some promise yet didn't test Tyler, Hulse had a powerful effort blocked and various floated crosses from Lunt and Wright proved fruitless for the tireless Hulse. Sorvel proceeded to forget which colour we were playing in, and the defensive capabilities of the ref, who prevented the ball from going for a Crewe corner, summed up a dull affair where neither side were capable of scoring.
The Alex had Ince to thank for the away unbeaten run continuing, keeping clean sheet number five on the bounce. The Alex will look back on their failure to open up the Posh rearguard, which included former Alex centre back Sagi Burton.