And that last-gasp equaliser for The Railwaymen surely also leaves Alan Pardew's Upton Park future careering towards the end of the line.
Since their fall from Premiership grace in May 2003, Hammers had met Crewe on three occasions and each time they had grabbed maximum points with 3-0 and 3-2 wins at Gresty Road and a 4-2 victory in last season's clash at Upton Park.
And how they needed to keep up that sequence following their right Royal roasting at play-off rivals Reading at the weekend.
After Saturday's embarrassing return to the Madejski, Pardew made four changes from the side that lost 3-1 as Sheringham, Anton Ferdinand and Gavin Williams were recalled, while Elliott Ward was handed his first league start.
Languishing in 18th place after their 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, Crewe made three switches themselves for their second daunting fixture within the space of four days.
Chris McCready, Richard Walker and Mark Roberts each returned and Dario Gradi's shake-up looked like creating an early upset when Luke Varney got between the inexperienced pairing of Ferdinand and Ward before lobbing over and shortly afterwards the Alex striker also volleyed narrowly wide.
Having survived those early couple of scares, West Ham should have taken the lead when Williams released Marlon Harewood who easily rounded Ben Williams only to drive his angled shot onto the outside of the Crewe keeper's left-hand post.
Set free by Mark Noble, Williams then sent a scorching angled volley a whisker beyond the far post while Ferdinand and Harewood also threatened with headers as Hammers started to turn the screw.
The loss of the lively Matthew Etherington just before the break with a knee injury stopped Hammers dead in their tracks and as Crewe's self-belief grew, they might even have broken the deadlock on the hour when Mark Rivers' goalbound shot was blocked by strike-partner Varney.
There was yet further disappointment for the 243 travelling supporters when Gary Roberts' rising 12-yarder was pushed aside at full stretch by Stephen Bywater.
Equally, the frustration of the 26,350 West Ham fans was growing by the minute and when Williams pushed away Noble's sizzling 20-yarder, a goalless draw looked the only possible outcome.
But Sheringham had other ideas. And when Ward was fouled with a quarter-of-an-hour left, the 51-times capped ex-England striker bagged his 16th goal of the season with a clinically executed 18-yard free-kick that sailed under Williams' right-hand upright.
The Hammers goal-getter then retired as Hayden Mullins joined the fray, while Gradi hurled on Andy White and Jones in what proved to be a match-turning switch.
For when McCready whipped over a right-wing cross with just seconds of normal time remaining, Jones got in front of Mullins to power home the far post header that sent the Crewe fans into raptures and the Hammers supporters into predictable chants of 'Pardew Out!'