After drawing just 3 games in 31 matches to the point where four successive home victories had optimistic Crewe fans getting giddy with the play-off spots in sight, a new habit kicked in at half-time during the crazy afternoon with AFC Wimbledon and a new found love for drawing games, four on the run following that particular capitulation, has all but wiped any talk of the top seven away from the mouths of any rational talking Alex fan, to leave only the truly positive dreamers still hopeful of a season extension in May.
The latest point share comes after a 1-1 draw with Rotherham, such details as score-line even proving habitual after it cropped up at last week’s date with Port Vale and last Saturday’s battle with Shrewsbury Town at Gresty Road, with Steve Davis’ post match comments seemingly being the only positive from what seemed a dismal night at the Don Valley Stadium.
An awful recent record at the athletics tracked-stadium in Sheffield hasn’t helped any Alex fan be endeared to the place and having never been myself, one can only speculate that it will be a far more enjoyable experience to visit Rotherham United in their own town as they move into their newly built stadium over the summer.
That fixture is almost a certainty to be taking place in League Two next season as a share of the spoils left both teams on the outer fringes of the top seven as Oxford’s point at Shrewsbury ensured a six point cushion between them and tenth-placed Crewe, with Rotherham a further two points off in twelfth.
Crewe, hindered by the loss of 17 year old wonder-kid Nick Powell as he embarks on England youth duty, took the lead through a Harry Davis penalty, evidence that lessons from Ashley Westwood’s miss against Wimbledon have been harnessed and Davis, scorer of a match-winning spot-kick earlier in the season at Cheltenham, is surely now installed as the club’s regular penalty taker.
A late equaliser from Lewis Grabban will only serve as a reminder that the run down to the close season has now been reduced to a fine-tuning process as the details, involving new contracts, different formations and partnerships are all tested ahead of the new season under the more settled circumstances of a young ambitious manager who has emanated all the correct signals that he is the correct long-term option in the five months he has been in the hot-seat. His press comments have been distinctly refreshing, bordering on the abrasive, most notably the “I don’t want to sit through the rubbish I had to witness week-in, week-out for the last two years” which can be translated amongst Crewe fans as a thinly-veiled dig at Dario Gradi.
Last night was no different, far from happy at the performance that garnered a point, he told the Crewe Alex website that “our fans would have gone home disappointed and quite rightly so because it was a real poor performance” which is a distinct contrast to the mundane views that originated from his successor. A disenchanted Davis went on to claim that “it was a point gained from a real poor performance and I’d like to apologise to the fans who travelled over tonight” making it clear that mediocrity in this club will not be further accepted and Crewe fans will take heart from that fact as they travelled back across the Peak District late on Tuesday night.
David Artell came in for Powell in what was a seemingly bizarre move, but it appeared justified as the score-line rolled to 1 up after just 16 minutes. However, as the match wore on, it became increasingly clear Crewe were shorn of the thrust and audacity of Powell’s tricky direct running. Rotherham were the better side for the majority of the game in the aftermath of Davis junior’s opener, goal-scorer Grabban was a constant threat as was Alex Revell who went close with two headers late on.
Steve Phillips had to be alert to a constant barrage of crosses that came from the Millers, a slight redemption from the weekend from him as an uncharacteristically lapse performance cost a soft opener in the game with Shrewsbury.
A positive would be taken from Crewe fans in the form of Ajay Leitch Smith’s return from a long-standing injury to take the place of Greg Pearson with 15 minutes to go, but his energy couldn’t quite force a winner and a point, just as it had been for the last four games, had to be settled on.
These past two matches, Shrewsbury and Rotherham, were both scenes of defeats earlier on in the season, a 2-0 and a 1-2, as a result of anaemic, sub-standard displays that had Crewe fans fearing a relegation fight. The sense of frustration and disappointment that has been insinuated over the past two meetings is a clear indictment as any of how far Crewe have travelled under this new management team in such a short space of time.
The Alex will now travel all the way down Gillingham on Saturday after they moved up to eighth in the table, above a positionally-stagnated Alex who will now surely be playing with any pressure or expectation of a play-off finish hanging over them.
Then it is league leaders Swindon Town at Gresty Road next week in a match that promises to be hugely exciting, as the future now is for this club.
The promising future will not quite be on the agenda just yet, but the last eleven games will form the chance to build more foundations, and as Damon Albarn’s animated band the Gorillaz once said, “I’m happy, I’m feeling glad… I’m useless but not for long, the future is coming on.
By Crewe blogger Adam Gray
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