Crewe Alexandra On This Day – March 12th

There have been four games played on March 12th this century.

In 2002, we hosted Manchester City at the Alexandra Stadium. Ali Benarbia gave the visitors the lead in the 30th minute with Darren Huckerby extending it just before the break. Rodney Jack halved the deficit 10 minutes into the second period with Shaun Goater scoring in the 75th minute.

Crewe: Ince; Wright, Walton, Sodje, Vaughan; Lunt, Charnock (Rix 70), Sorvel, Little (Jack 46); Hulse, Ashton (Street 87)

Man City: Nash, Pearce, Wiekens, Dunne, Jensen, Tiatto, Benarbia, Horlock, Wright-Phillips, Goater, Huckerby

3 years later saw a home game against Sunderland with Stephen Elliott scoring the only goal of the game in the 58th minute.

Crewe: Williams; Moss, Foster, Murdock, Tonkin; Lunt, Bell (White 85), Sorvel, Vaughan; Rivers (S. Jones 67), Varney

Sunderland: Myhre, Wright, Breen, Caldwell, McCartney, Robinson, Thornton (Arca 57), Whitehead, Whitley, Bridges (Elliott 54), Stewart (Brown 90)

We hosted Chesterfield in 2011. Clayton Donaldson opened the scoring for the hosts in the 36th minute with Danny Shelley adding a late second with 3 minutes to play.

Crewe: Taylor; Ada, Artell (Ashley M. Westwood 86), Dugdale, Blanchett; Murphy, Bell, Ashley R. Westwood (Shelley 79); Moore, Donaldson, Miller

Chesterfield: Lee, Holden, Robertson, Talbot, Djilali (Lester 58), Morris, Niven (Allottt 56), Smalley, Whitaker, Davies, Morgan (Boden 84)

The final game saw a trip to Gillingham`s Priestfield Stadium 2 years ago. Dominic Samuel gave the hosts the lead in the 12th minute before second-half goals with a Jon Guthrie own goal and Josh Wright extended that lead.

Crewe: Garratt; Turton, Davis (Kirk 46), Nugent, Guthrie; Cooper, Fox (Bingham 64), Jones, Bakayago; Haber, Hitchcock (Ainley 64)

Gillingham: Nelson, El-Abd (Garmston 46), Morris, Ehmer, Dickenson, Loft (Hessenthaler 63), McGlashan, Williams, Wright, Norris (Donnelly 81), Samuel