Hat-Trick Sees Winning Record End

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.