After a resounding 4-2 victory over Rotherham United at Millmoor in the FA Cup 4th round, Crewe Alexandra found themselves drawn against the Premiership's perennial strugglers Everton at Goodison Park, furthermore, it was to be televised live on BBC television. It was the highest stage of the FA Cup we had reached for eleven years.
Upwards of 5,500 Crewe fans made the short trip north to Liverpool and created a great atmosphere in the dilapidated Bullens Road Stand following an ultra-depressing 1-6 defeat at the hands of Coventry City the previous weekend. Dario Gradi totally shrugged off the defeat claiming the pressure was off.
Clayton Ince got his long-awaited chance in goal for Crewe following Ademola Bankole's pitiful display against Coventry, and Stephen Foster was also dropped, with Dave Walton replacing him.
Dean Ashton and Rob Hulse continued in attack with rising star David Vaughan down the left hand side. Boyhood blue David Wright continued his rather disappointing season at right-back, with the job of nullifying the threat of former French international David Ginola.
Along with Ginola, the Blues boasted Swedish international trio of Nicolas Alexandersson, Tobias Linderoth and Jesper Blomqvist.
Quite bizarrely, the game was put back by half an hour due to the Sunday mass of the tiny Catholic Church that is located in the corner of Goodison Park, clashing with the scheduled 1pm kick-off time.
Everton had most of the early running, but they found Clayton Ince in a defiant mood, collecting every cross with ease and in some cases arrogance and the ironic cheers got louder and louder from the away stand as the 'superior side' failed to trouble the 'relegation threatened little Crewe'.
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We had our chances, with Dean Ashton leaping above Weir and Stubbs to get on the end of Kenny Lunt's delightful free kick, however it landed just above the crossbar on the roof of the net.
Neil Sorvel, who had been slaughtered due to his woeful display in the Coventry debacle, had a tricky long-range effort well smothered by the now forgotten Toffee's keeper Steve Simonsen. Rob and Dean were causing trouble for Stubbs and Weir and gave the on looking nation a taste of how good they were. Commentator Joe Royle praised the two starlets and predicted they would be Premiership players in the future.
With the half-time whistle approaching, and the Alex fans in fine voice, Dave Brammer and Neil Sorvel did awfully well to hold the midfield play in the Everton half and the teams went in with the score 0-0.
The second half saw the Crewe defence shine, with Efe Sodje and Dave Walton acting as defensive rocks, in fact the Merseysider's only breached the rearguard on a handful of appearances. Firstly, Gemmil gathered the ball from Ginola's left wing trickery, but his feeble shot ballooned off Walton making it easy for Ince to gather. Clayton didn't miss a trick all day and was easily man of the match.
Ginola's free kick from 25 yards caused little trouble for the defence, as did Stubbs' header from Gemmil's right wing cross.
Eighteen-year old David Vaughan was replaced by fellow rising star Ben Rix after the Welsh Wizard began to tire.
Ginola's goal bound free-kick was well headed around the post by Dave Walton, with Ince maybe just too far away to reach it. Dean Ashton followed it up with a dangerous header from Shaun Smith's tantalising ball. There was still hope for the Railwaymen.
The game began to stew so Walter Smith brought on Paul Gascoigne, who did very little for the Everton cause, but reminded us all of why he is laughed at and ridiculed by the majority of football fans. He punched Kenny Lunt in the back of the head and tried to kick through his legs right in front of the Crewe supporters. He was greeted with a warming chorus of 'You fat bastard!' from the Alex crowd.
St. Vincent international Rodney Jack replaced the tired looking Dean Ashton
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The boo’s rang around the Gwladys Street End as Everton continually found no way past the Crewe defence, so American striker Joe Max-Moore was introduced by Smith.
The best chance of the game fell to crowd favourite Rob Hulse whose determination resulted in a lovely lob over Simonsen following David Wright’s dangerous ball that cheekily split the Everton defence. Hulse wrapped his outstretched foot around the ball and got his shot away on the half volley. It beat Simonsen, but the crossbar came to Everton’s rescue.
The game then began to die away. Everton searched for a goal but only Joe Max-Moore’s blistering drive came anywhere near breaking the deadlock. Crewe survived a penalty appeal when an awkward ball bounced up and caught Sorvel on the shoulder.
So, it ended in a creditable 0-0 draw for the battling Railwaymen and a money-spinning replay at Gresty Road that was live on Sky TV. Dean Ashton put us 1-0 up, but Radzinski and Campbell’s subsequent scrappy efforts won it for the away side.
Team: Clayton Ince, David Wright, Efe Sodje, Dave Walton, Shaun Smith, Kenny Lunt, Neil Sorvel, Dave Brammer, David Vaughan (Ben Rix), Dean Ashton (Rodney Jack), Rob Hulse (Stephen Foster).