Toady we look back at the very successful 2012/13 campaign for the Alex
When Crewe beat Cheltenham in 2012 at Wembley to get promoted to League One, most Alex fans just hoped that the club would survive at League One level. But they did more than that.
A mid-table finish combined with Wembley success in the Johnstone`s Paint Trophy was beyond what any Alex fan could have hoped for after the 19-match unbeaten run which culminated in their promotion.
The start to the Alex campaign saw their unbeaten run ended by a 2-1 defeat to Notts County. Wins against Scunthorpe and Coventry came either side of a 5-1 thrashing away at Brentford. After the Coventry win came a run of just 1 win in 9, with 5 draws in that time meaning the Alex were just 3 points off the relegation zone after 13 games.
Form improved for the rest of the year, with a run of 8 wins in 12 seeing the Alex in 10th place by the end of the year and just three points off the playoffs. This included a run of 4 home wins in a row against Colchester, Crawley, Bury and Carlisle. It looked as though Crewe should now look up rather than down the table.
The next 12 games only produced 4 wins, which saw Crewe drop down the table to 13th by mid-March. This included completing a double over Colchester and Coventry. But by this point in the season, the Alex faithful had a trip to Wembley to look forward to.
The Alex had got past Shrewsbury, Doncaster and Bradford before a two-legged final came against Coventry. Everyone thought the tie would be over after the first leg? and it was! Crewe won 3-0 to effectively kill off the tie, with 2 from Brad Inman and one from AJ Leitch-Smith, The Alex lost 2-0 in the home leg but that didn`t matter.
The final saw them face Southend, the team they had defeated in the playoff semi-final the previous year. As with their last Wembley visit, Crewe won 2-0, this time with goals from Luke Murphy and Max Clayton. This was another day for Crewe fans to savour and another famous day for the club.
Crewe`s form was up and down for the rest of the League season, and they finished where they were in mid-March. They ended the season with consecutive wins against Sheffield United and Walsall. But once they had stayed up, the Johnstone`s Paint Trophy was the main competition, and they won it. This was another very good season for Crewe on the back of promotion.