Callum Ainley’s early second-half goal saw Crewe Alexandra defeat Hartlepool United in the 1st Round of the Carabao Cup despite Billy Sass-Davies’ early red card.
Manager David Artell made 6 changes from Saturday’s 1-1 home draw against Cheltenham Town with Will Jaaskelainen returning in goal, Sass-Davies and Callum McFadzean came into the defence, Shaun MacDonald played at the base of midfield while Chris Porter and Chris Long came in up front. Dave Richards, Rio Adebisi, Mika Mandron, Oli Finney, Luke Murphy and Donervon Daniels all dropped down to the bench with former Alex loanee Jamie Sterry starting for the hosts.
The opening incident came in the 13th minute with Sass-Davies pulling back on Tyler Burey’s shirt with the defender seeing a straight red card for the offence with Daniels replacing Long as the Alex would restore a back 4. Sterry would hit the bar from a free-kick after 32 mins before the first Alex chance came 5 minutes before the break with Owen Dale’s left-footed shot not testing Jonathan Mitchell in the hosts’ goal.
The Alex took the lead 4 minutes after the break with Ainley volleying in from just inside the area before Jaaskelainen would deny Nicky Featherstone at his near post. The draw for the second round occurs after tonight’s televised game between Leyton Orient and QPR.
Our next couple of games see the Alex head to Portsmouth on Saturday before a trip to Oxford United next Tuesday night.
What can we take out of this game?
It’s always good to advance into the second round with the chance of getting a Premier League team that is not in European competition this season. Whilst it wasn’t the best game to watch after the early red card, it was good to see that we could dig in and get a result despite making half a dozen changes from the team on Saturday.
Who would everyone want in the next round and would you want a home or away tie?