Crewe Alexandra would be held to their first goalless draw of the season by Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 1 change from last Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat against Salford City as new signing Ed Turns came into the side for Josh Austerfield, who dropped down to the bench where the returning Charlie Kirk joined him. Former Alex midfielder Brad Walker started for the hosts.
The game’s opening chance came in the 9th minute for the visitors with Lewis Billington’s cross evading everyone before fellow Alex full-back Rio Adebisi hit a free-kick over the bar a few minutes later. Against his former side, Elliot Nevitt would have a shot blocked on 18 minutes.
After taking a couple of blows in the first half, the Alex would make a change at the break with Harvey Davies replacing Tom Booth in goal before Nevitt would have an effort saved by Luke McGee in the hosts’ net 8 minutes after the break. Apter would pull an effort wide for the hosts just after the hour before Aaron Rowe would have a shot blocked by full-back Wood (possibly off his hand) in the 73rd minute.
The next couple of games see the Alex hosting Crawley Town next Saturday before travelling to Stockport County the following Tuesday.
Final Thoughts:
It was a game that was important to build a little bit of momentum after last week’s defeat with the arrival of Turns allowing Luke Offord to go back into midfield where he has played well over the past month or so.
Losing Booth for a few weeks (he suffered from a rib injury following the clash just before the break – hopefully it isn’t too serious) would be a little disappointing as he was starting to establish himself as the first-choice keeper but Harvey Davies has got another chance to make that shirt his own.
Prenton Park
League 2
3/02/2024 4:00 pm
Attendance: 7169
Referee: Carl Brook
| Tranmere Rovers | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGee | Booth | 46 | |||||
| O'Connor | Billington | 74 | |||||
| Davies | Turns | ||||||
| Turnbull | Demetriou | ||||||
| Wood | Adebisi | ||||||
| Apter | 83 | Offord | |||||
| Walker | Thomas | ||||||
| Hendry | Tracey | 74 | |||||
| Morris | 77 | Rowe | 90 | ||||
| Jennings | Long | ||||||
| Jolley | 64 | Nevitt | 74 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Murphy | Davies | 46 | |||||
| Hawkes | 77 | Cooney | |||||
| Saunders | 64 | Baker-Richardson | 74 | ||||
| Yarney | Leigh | 74 | |||||
| Lewis | Holicek | 74 | |||||
| McAlear | 83 | Austerfield | |||||
| Norris | Kirk | 90 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 9 | Goal attempts | 10 |
| 0 | On Target | 1 |
| 7 | Corners | 6 |
| 10 | Fouls | 17 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 44 | % | 56 |