A hat-trick from Matt Smith saw Salford City defeat Crewe Alexandra despite Aaron Rowe and Elliott Nevitt seeing the Alex into a half-time lead at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 1 change from last Saturday’s 3-1 win at Barrow as Josh Austerfield came in for Connor O’Riordan, who joined Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday while former Alex midfielder Matty Lund was a substitute for the visitors.
The game’s opening chance and goal came in the 4th minute with a floated cross from Luke Bolton allowed Smith to score a header from 6 yards out, scoring off the inside of the post, before Tom Booth would deny the striker from close range midway through the half.
The hosts would equalise a minute before the break as a passing move between Shilow Tracey, Lewis Billington, Rowe and Conor Thomas saw Rowe play a 1-2 with the latter before curling the ball off the base of the post from 20 yards then the Alex took the lead in stoppage-time as a floated cross from Billington was headed in by Nevitt, a goal similar to the opener.
The visitors would level 10 minutes after Smith headed in the break as a Luke Garbutt inswinging corner from inside the 6-yard box where it would remain the same scoreline until the final 5 minutes before the Ammies scored the winner, as substitutes Liam Shephard, Callum Hendry and Lund would combine to allow Smith to score from 6 yards out.
The next couple of games see the Alex travelling to Tranmere Rovers next Saturday before hosting Crawley Town the following Saturday.
Final Thoughts:
The game wasn’t great from an Alex perspective as we were bullied by a big centre forward and a direct team that played to their strengths. In the game, half-time came at the time when the Railwaymen were building a little momentum and where Karl Robinson could get his team into the dressing room to reorganise his team.
Alexandra Stadium
League 2
27/01/2023 4:00 pm
Attendance: 4938
Referee: Stephen Parkinson
| Crewe Alexandra | Salford City | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowe, Nevitt | Smith (3) | ||||||
| Booth | Cairns | ||||||
| Billington | 63 | John | 46 | ||||
| Offord | Vassell | ||||||
| Demetriou | Tilt | ||||||
| Adebisi | Garbutt | ||||||
| Thomas | Watson | 75 | |||||
| Austerfield | 89 | Watt | |||||
| Tracey | Luamba | 46 | |||||
| Rowe | 81 | Bolton | |||||
| Long | 63 | Smith | |||||
| Nevitt | McAleny | 75 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Davies | Torrance | ||||||
| Cooney | 63 | Mariappa | |||||
| Baker-Richardson | 63 | Lund | 75 | ||||
| Leigh | 89 | Hendry | 75 | ||||
| Colkett | McLennan | ||||||
| Holicek | 81 | N'Mai | 46 | ||||
| Shephard | 46 | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 11 | Goal attempts | 18 |
| 3 | On Target | 6 |
| 2 | Corners | 5 |
| 10 | Fouls | 16 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 52 | % | 48 |