Goals in the final 10 minutes from Conor Thomas and Joel Tabiner saw Crewe Alexandra come from behind to defeat Swindon Town at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made four changes from Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Grimsby Town as Connor O’Riordan, Charlie Finney, Tabiner and Courtney Baker-Richardson came in for Luke Offord, Callum Ainley and Elliott Nevitt, who all dropped down to the bench, as well as Tariq Uwakwe.
The opening chance fell to the hosts in the 8th minute with Rod McDonald heading a Tabiner corner over the bar before O’Riordan would head a Ryan Finnigan free-kick straight at goalkeeper Brynn on 32 minutes. The visitors took the lead a minute before the break as Hepburn-Murphy would score from outside the area with a deflected effort.
Tom Booth would deny Luke Jephcott just before the hour-mark before also saving from substitute Shade on 66 minutes. The Alex would level with 8 minutes to play as substitute Lachlan Brook’s long-range strike would be palmed out by Brynn into the path of Thomas to score from 8 yards out, opening his Alex account, before Brook’s fellow sub Ainley would cross for Tabiner to flick in 5 minutes later.
The next games for the Alex see them have their final two games of the season, firstly Bradford City at home on Wednesday night before travelling to Newport County a week tomorrow.
What can we take out of this game?
It was a game that was, for large parts, fairly equal but there was a real desire to get the 3 points – especially with the arrival of Brook and to a lesser extent Nevitt in the final 10 minutes.
Thomas was a suitable man of the match for his work in midfield by keeping his game limited in front of the backline before arriving late to score the leveller.