A motley Crewe (L2)

It's a bit odd the way that the fixtures have ended up in this part of the season. The natural order of things is a home game followed by an away game. Not away, away, away followed by home, home, home as the March fixtures have been. So it was the second trip down to Grenoble Road in a week. I could only hope that it would be better than Tuesday night's pathetic showing against Stevenage.

The pre-match news was that there were five changes in the starting lineup from that match. In came Batt and Tonks for Kinniborough and Purkiss (who didn't make the bench), Beano for Midson, new boy Ryan Burge for Clist (who also didn't make the bench) and Heslop for Payne. To be honest, there was nobody who could have been assured of their place after Tuesday. The rumours at the ground were that Midson was off on loan (Barnet) and that Simon Clist might also be shipped out. Kinniborough and Purkiss might be looking for another club in the summer as well, I think.

The away match at Crewe had ended up as a 1-1 draw, with a Crewe winner being disallowed after the lino was reminded of the offside rules and Beano being sent off for a second yellow - something that everyone in Gresty Road could see was going to happen as he charged hell for leather towards a Crewe player! It had been a decent point. On their travels recently, Crewe had been poor - not winning in seven. Not that that makes any difference, Gillingham hadn't won away since man learned to walk upright and we duly help them to get rid of that particular jinx! Crewe had also won three of their last four. Hmm. There's one word that seems to sum up League 2 this season. Inconsistent. not just us, but many of the other teams in and around the playoffs.

It was a sunny, calm day down in deepest Oxfordshire. Which was a good thing as a bit of wind would have meant that Crewe striker Donaldson wouldn't have been able to stand up at all. As it was, he kept falling to the floor for no explicable reason all afternoon!

Crewe obviously hadn't done their homework. First of all, they won the toss and then let us kick towards the fence end in the first half. More seriously they hadn't been told that there is a simple way to win against us. (This is publicly avaialable information for anyone who has seen us this season, but any opposing managers who find this a useful tip, please make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care, our charity at the ground today). The secret is....

... challenge us for the ball, all over the pitch, often in pairs.

It's that easy. Nasty, in-yer-face, scrappy teams with lttle skill have done this to us all season (Stockport did it twice for God's sake) and we have rolled over. The teams that play 'better football' and try to take us on that way find us a much more difficult proposition. Mind you, when we played Crewe at their place, they thought we were one of the nasty, scrappy teams! I presume that there were some teams (cough, Stevenage, cough) they hadn't come across by then!

Anyway, Crewe played it pretty. That made for an open game, and it was pretty even for the first quarter of the game. Clarke made a decent (if fairly regulation) save, Crewe headed one wide, we had a couple of not terribly accurate shots at the other end. It wasn't brilliant, but it was 1000% better than Tuesday. Heslop was looking much better going forward and Burge (why does that name give me the shivers?!) started slowly, but gradually found the pace of the game and started to look good, actually looking up before passing! In fact all of the midfield were challenging for the ball with an enthusiasm unseen only four days ago. Encouraging.

After half an hour, we went ahead. As always, from my vantage point in the East stand things are a bit confused up the other end, but this is how I saw it. Beano and Craddock were very close together (TC closer to the goal) when Beano poked the ball netwards. It wasn't the best strike he's ever made, but the goalie seemd completely wrongfooted and the ball bumbled apologetically into the net with him totally stranded. It looked as if the goalie had been expecting Craddock to have the ball at his feet and wasn't watching Beano properly. At least that what it looked like. Was Craddock in an offside position? Impossible to say from where I was. If he was, was he interfering with play? Probably. But there was no flag, and Beano could claim his fist goal for quite a while. He was relieved, we were relieved. There wasn't a huge protest from the Crewe players, which maybe tells you something.

Every time anyone went near Donaldson, he went down as if he had been shot. The ref bought it every single time, and every time he got a free kick. A few minutes after we'd taken the lead, he was challenged by Jake Wright on the left hand side of our penalty area. Now it was certainly a foul this time although Donaldson made the biggest meal of it that you can imagine. A whole banquet in fact. Wright was booked (a bit harshly) and then Maclean in a display of complete stupidity hoofed the ball right across the pitch. Unsurprisingly he too went in the book. I have no idea at all why he did it. We broke away from the resulting free kick, but play was halted when the ref noticed Beano lying prostrate in our penalty area. He'd collided with the right hand goalpost with a sickening thump. Those around me said he'd been pushed by a Crewe player. I claim a 'Wenger' - I didn't see it. The ref obviously didn't either, as he took no action. Luckily Captain Beano is made of stern stuff and soon recovered. The half ended with us generally on top, and growing in confidence.

Half time. I took some strong hallucinogenic drugs as soon as the whistle blew. When they kicked in, I was teated to the sight of a crossbar challenge involving the usual ne'er-do-wells from the east stand, Timmy 'Wackaday' Mallet and a giant daffodil. Psychedelic, man.

The second half started much as the first had finished. Neither team made any changes to personnel, formation or tactics. The referee was having (let's be kind) a bit of a stinker. The Crewe goalie rushed out to smother the ball and slid out of the left hand side of his penalty area, still carrying it. The east stand saw it, the south stand saw it, the north stand saw it, all the players from both teams saw it. The ref and his lino didn't. Incredible. The play was fairly end to end, although neither team was creating clear cut chances.

Potter and Payne came on for Craddock and McLaren. Cradock's substitution was understandable. I know McLaren is (in footballing terms) getting on a bit, but I fear for our defence when he doesn't complete the whole match. It was (as always) a double substitution 15-20 minutes into the second half. As regular as clockwork. Potter loked lively as soon as he came on, and Payne slotted right into the midfield.

Ten minutes later, another midfielder played a huge part in our second goal. Ryan Burge challenged for the ball and won it well. He ended up on his arse, but was alert enough to see Beano making a run, got up, got the ball and passed it properly. Beano tok it with all the confidence of a man who has broken a goal-scoring drought and planted the ball in the right hand corner of the Crewe goal. Great stuff. An on-song Beano is going to help us keep our faint play-off hopes alive.

Burge was also finding his feet (unlike Donaldson, who was still diving about like a ballerina with the vapours), and almost played Potter in. If he can play like this, he also will be a valuable asset.

The ref was starting to get a bit fed up with timewasting by us, but it was very mild compared to some of the stuff we have seen from teams at the Kassam this season. The unlucky man to push him over the edge was Tonkin. He took no more time than is usual, but got a yellow from Mr Boyeson. (Boyeson Ivy, whoah oah oh).

Our defence were standing pretty firm (although crosses were still coming in a bit too easily for my liking), and a cross-cum-shot by Heslop was clearly deflected out for a corner to us. Apparently not. Again, everyone apart from the officials had seen it quite clearly. Clayton Donaldson had an opportunity to pull one back for Crewe, but his feet are no better at kicking a ball than they are at keeping him upright and he hit the side netting when he should have done better. Worley got a yellow for something (looking at the ref in a funny way, probably), and Hackney came on for MacLean, who had looked much more lively than in recent outings. The match went into injury time with us looking comfortable and for the most part on the front foot. Crewe did score a scruffy deflected goal in the dying seconds (no home clean sheet for us since early September!!) but it was to little too late and the ref blew to bring the match to the end.

A funny match. At times in the first half, it rather felt like a pre-season friendly. The crowd were quiet (as was I, but I've got a sore throat. I hope you don't catch it by reading this blog. Computer viruses - very infectious!), the sun was warm, there wasn't a huge amount of intensity on the pitch. But it got better as it went on. A fairly quick drive home, this time avoiding The Great Roadworks of Northampton.

Thoughts:
Now two points off the playoffs, which looks good - other results went pretty much our way.
But other teams have games and goal difference in hand, which doesn't look so great.
Much, much better than Tuesday. Nowhere near perfect, but better.
Burge looks like he could make a positive difference, but early days yet.
CW is obviously thinking about next season. I hope he doesn't go mad and throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I still think we'll end up short - hope I'm very wrong.
Barnet and Stockport - goodbye!

For some reason that I don't know, next weekend's fixture is on Sunday. Against Burton, who will be scrapping for points, desperately. See you there.