Goals in either half from Ollie Finney and Lewis Reilly gave Crewe Alexandra the victory against fellow League 2 club Colchester United in the Under-23 Professional Development League at the JobServe Community Stadium last night.
Manager Alex Morris named Sam Booth in goal with a back 4 of Travis Johnson, Billy Sass-Davies, Luke Offord and Rio Adebisi in front of him. Josh Lundstram partnered captain James Jones in central midfield while Owen Dale, Finney and Callum Ainley started in behind lone striker Reilly. On the bench were goalkeeper Andy Walklate, Regan Griffiths, Connor Heath and Aaron Lomas while Crewe-born Cohen Bramall started at left-back for Colchester.
The opening goal of the game came in the 28th minute with Finney getting on the end of a cross from the left with the hosts levelling the scoreline 4 minutes later with midfielder Noah Chilvers scoring from the edge of the area. The winner came 8 minutes after the break with defender Omar Sowunmi handling the ball and Reilly tucking home the penalty.
The next game for the Under-23 team sees a home game against Millwall at the Alexandra Stadium a week tomorrow (18th) with a 1pm kick-off before a home game against Sheffield Wednesday the following Monday at Reaseheath.
Crewe: Booth; Johnson, Sass-Davies, Offord, Adebisi; Jones (c), Lundstram; Dale, Finney, Ainley; Reilly
Colchester: Ross, Wiredu, Bramall, Dunne, Kensdale, Sowunmi, Ager, Chilvers, Hinds, Poku, Hasanally
