Callum Ainley’s 95th-minute equaliser saw Crewe Alexandra get a point away at the Moss Rose against Macclesfield Town last night after Paul Green’s own-goal had given the Silkmen the lead just before half-time.
Manager David Artell named an unchanged team from Saturday’s home win against Cheltenham Town with the bench also the same as that game.
With few chances for either side in the opening 45 minutes, it was the hosts who took the lead just before half-time with Green, who got back into cover well, rolling the ball past Will Jaaskelainen into the bottom-right of the Alex net.
Into the second-half, where an early change saw Green replaced by Ollie Finney and it was the Alex who took charge of the game as the final half-hour approached. Firstly, Chuma Anene had an effort saved by Macc debutant Jonathan Mitchell, then Perry Ng was denied by a great defensive block from a Silkmen defender. Despite multiple crosses from the right flank, it was an inswinging corner from Harry Pickering that was knocked down into the 6-yard box that saw Ainley bundle the ball over the line from 2-yards out.
Our next two games see us travel to Scunthorpe United on Saturday before a home game against Leyton Orient.
What can we learn from this game?
Well, the first half was utterly dreadful from both teams (and having to remember it for this doesn’t help any) with Green’s own-goal just it about summing up. As far as the second-half goes and, yes it could only get better, it was the first couple of minutes off the second period that saw the Alex take hold of the game and the introduction of Finney for the ineffectual Green gave the Alex midfield a little more impetus with the young midfielder getting on the ball in dangerous areas.
There were a number of crosses from the right-side in particular from Ng, Lowery and the set-pieces of Pickering so it wasn’t a shock to see us score from one eventually – although aiming for Nottingham at every set-piece in the future could be countered if we don’t mix it up a little.
Moss Rose
League 2
21/01/2020 8:45 pm
Attendance: 2435
Referee: Christopher Pollard
| Macclesfield Town | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green og | Ainley | ||||||
| Mitchell | Jaaskelainen | ||||||
| O'Keeffe | Ng | ||||||
| Kelleher | Nottingham | ||||||
| Horsfall | Hunt | ||||||
| Fitzpatrick | Pickering | ||||||
| Archibald | 67 | Lowery | |||||
| Kirby | Wintle | ||||||
| McCourt | 25 | Green | 52 | ||||
| Whitehead | Powell | 77 | |||||
| Gnahoua | Anene | ||||||
| Ironside | Kirk | 77 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Charles-Cook | Richards | ||||||
| Stephens | 25 | Jones | |||||
| Blyth | 75 | Ainley | 77 | ||||
| Osadebe | Finney | 52 | |||||
| Rose | Dale | 77 | |||||
| Cameron | 67 | Johnson | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 8 | Goal attempts | 13 |
| 2 | On Target | 1 |
| 7 | Corners | 10 |
| 12 | Fouls | 6 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 37 | % | 63 |