A late Chris Porter penalty gave Crewe Alexandra a point at Morecambe’s Globe Arena after Morecambe had come from behind to lead following James Jones opening the scoring for the Alex yesterday afternoon.
Manager David Artell made one change from Tuesday’s defeat at Bury with Nicky Hunt coming in for Corey Whelan at the back with Perry Ng moving back across to right-back while former Alex striker AJ Leitch-Smith started for the hosts.
The opening chance of the game fell to Morecambe with Leitch-Smith denied by a goal-line clearance from George Ray before strike partner Liam Mandeville fired a shot over the bar. The first Alex chance came on 14 minutes with Ryan Wintle shooting over from just outside the area before the visitors took the lead on 27 minutes with a counter-attack which saw Ng find James Jones with the midfielder getting his 5th of the season via a deflection from the edge of the area.
Another goal-line clearance from Ray aside, it was all Crewe for the rest of the half. Ng and Jones coming close with efforts (Jonah should score his from 6-yards out) as the visitors went into the break in the lead.
Just before the hour mark, Ray cleared a third off the line before a 20-yard free-kick from Andrew Tutte levelled things mid-way through the second period. They would also take the lead with 6 minutes left to play as Kevin Ellison slammed one in from just inside the area before Jordan Cranston hit the post with a free-kick. The Alex would level deep into stoppage-time from the penalty spot with Porter sending the keeper the wrong way after the veteran was brought down in the area.
The next game at first-team level sees Newport County arrive at the Alexandra Stadium on Saturday with a Cheshire Senior Cup game at home to Nantwich Town taking place on Wednesday evening.
What have we learnt from this game?
We got fortunate with the game with George Ray clearing off the line 3 times and being under constant pressure for most of the second period, another game that we’ve been alright for the first half but been outplayed for the second. Bringing on Miller and Dale on in the 89th minute is far too late for either to properly make an impact on the game.
Globe Arena
League 2
5/01/2019 4:00 pm
Attendance: 1662
Referee: Carl Boyeson
| Morecambe | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tutte, Ellison | Jones, Porter | ||||||
| Halstead | Garratt | ||||||
| Mills | Ng | ||||||
| Lavelle | Ray | ||||||
| Old | Hunt | ||||||
| Conlan | Pickering | ||||||
| Tutte | 78 | Jones | |||||
| Kenyon | Green | ||||||
| Cranston | Wintle | 89 | |||||
| Mandeville | 77 | Kirk | 66 | ||||
| Leitch-Smith | 26 | Porter | |||||
| Ellison | Bowery | 89 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Szczepaniak | Richards | ||||||
| Campbell | Miller | 89 | |||||
| Yarney | Ainley | 66 | |||||
| Oates | 26 | Nicholls | |||||
| Mendes Gomes | 77 | Lowery | |||||
| McKay | 78 | Dale | 89 | ||||
| Hedley | Whelan | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 17 | Goal attempts | 12 |
| 7 | On Target | 6 |
| 3 | Corners | 6 |
| 13 | Fouls | 12 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 52 | % | 48 |