Crewe Alexandra On This Day – February 25th

There have been five games played on February 25th this century.

In 2003, we hosted Wigan Athletic at the Alexandra Stadium with Nathan Ellington scoring the only goal of the game in the 38th minute after Efe Sodje was sent off for a second yellow card after 18 minutes.

Crewe: Ince; Sodje, Walker, Walton, Vaughan; Lunt, Sorvel, Bell (McCready 19, Ashton 82), S. Jones (Tierney 59); Hulse, Jack

Wigan: Filan, Eaden, McMillan, de Vos, Jackson, Bullard, Dinning, McCulloch (Roberts 5), Ellington, Liddell (Mitchell 76), Teale (Jarrett 83)

3 years later saw the Alex host Brighton & Hove Albion. Colin Kazim-Richards gave the visitors the lead after 11 minutes before 2 goals in 7 second-half minutes from Lee Bell and Steve Foster saw the Railwaymen the victory.

Crewe: Turnbull; Otsemobor, Foster, Bougherra, Tonkin; Lunt, Bell, Grant, S. Jones; Taylor (O`Connor 90), Varney (Higdon 70)

Brighton: Henderson, El-Abd, Hinshelwood, Lynch, Butters, Mayo, Carpenter, Frutos (Hammond 50), Hart (Carole 70), Gatting (McPhee 89), Kazim-Richards

In 2012, we hosted AFC Wimbledon. Billy Knott gave the visitors the lead after 7 minutes but were behind less than 5 minutes later thanks to goals from Byron Moore and Nick Powell. Greg Pearson extended the lead just after the half-hour mark before late goals from Sammy Moore and Christian Jolley levelled the scores.

Crewe: Phillips; Davis, Artell, Dugdale, Tootle; Moore, Murphy, Westwood, Shelley (Bell 80); Powell (Martin 89), Pearson (Miller 90)

AFC Wimbledon: Brown, Bush (Hoyte 54), Hatton, Mitchel-King, Stuart, Knott, Moncur (Harrison 74), Moore, Yussuff, Euell (Jolley 84), Midson

2 years later saw a trip to the Lamex Stadium to face Stevenage with Francois Zoko scoring the only goal of the game after 5 minutes.

Crewe: Etheridge; Tootle, Davis, Ellis, Guthrie; Aneke, Nolan, Grant (Oliver 90); Moore (Waters 84), Pogba, Inman

Stevenage: Day, Dembele, Hartley (Akins 67), Obeng, Ashton, Charles, Doughty (Wedgbury 77), Parrett (Morais 54), Smith, Freeman, Zoko

The final game occurred last year with Stevenage arriving in South Cheshire. Matt Godden opened the scoring for the visitors in the 7th minute with Fraser Franks extending the lead 9 minutes before the break. James Jones halved the score from the penalty spot with 20 minutes to go although both teams were reduced to 10 men following Chris Dagnall and Jamie Jones receiving first half red cards following a clash.

Crewe: Garratt; Turton, Ray, Nugent, Guthrie (Bakayago 46); Jones, Wintle (Kiwomya 46), Cooke; Dagnall. Bowery, Cooper

Stevenage: Jones, Franks, Ogilvie, Wilkinson, King, Lee, McAnuff, Pett, Tonge (Day 27), McQuoid (Kennedy 61), Godden (Gorman 83)