A stoppage-time penalty from Courtney Baker-Richardson saw Crewe Alexandra defeat Notts County at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 2 changes from last Sunday’s 2-2 home draw against Derby County in the FA Cup with Aaron Rowe and Shilow Tracey replacing Lewis Billington, who dropped down to the bench, and Elliott Nevitt, who missed out through injury, in the starting eleven.
The game’s opening chance came in the 9th minute as Tracey missed the target from the edge of the area before Baker-Richardson would skew the ball wide from a tight angle 11 minutes later. The Alex would hit the post midway through the half as Rio Adebisi’s cross found Mickey Demetriou at the back post with his effort from the by-line hitting the post via keeper Sam Slocombe with Harvey Davies denying Macauley Langstaff at the other end before the break.
The second half would also see few chances for either team with Charlie Colkett, Charlie Finney and Billington coming onto the pitch before Connor O’Riordan would deny David McGoldrick with a great block covering fellow defender Luke Offord in behind. Referee Simon Mather would pull up in the third minute of stoppage time before the Alex would win a penalty in the 6th minute of stoppage time as Ryan Cooney’s lob would be handled by County wing-back Jobi Jones, CBR smashing the penalty past Slocombe despite the keeper going the right way.
The next couple of games see the Alex travel to Derby County for the FA Cup replay on Tuesday night before returning home to face Newcastle United’s Under-21s in the final EFL Trophy game the following Tuesday.
Final Thoughts:
A very even game against two similarly strengthened teams that both tried to get the ball down to play football – the Alex slightly edging the first half with County edging the second.
The game ended with a cooly taken pen from CBR and subsequent problems with the away fans which saw the game halted for 10+ minutes which spoilt the game a little (maybe the officials could just end the game at that point rather than restart with just a minute or so to play).
Alexandra Stadium
League 2
11/11/2023 4:00 pm
Attendance: 5663
Referee: Simon Mather
| Crewe Alexandra | Notts County | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker-Richardson | |||||||
| Davies | Slocombe | ||||||
| Offord | Macari | ||||||
| O'Riordan | Baldwin | ||||||
| Demetriou | Cameron | ||||||
| Cooney | Nemane | 75 | |||||
| Thomas | 84 | O'Brien | |||||
| White | Austin | 80 | |||||
| Adebisi | Jones | ||||||
| Tracey | 76 | Crowley | |||||
| Baker-Richardson | McGoldrick | ||||||
| Rowe | 76 | Langstaff | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Booth | Stone | ||||||
| Colkett | 76 | Brindley | |||||
| Finney | 76 | Rawlinson | |||||
| Billington | 84 | Randall-Hurren | 75 | ||||
| Agius | Adebayo-Rowling | ||||||
| Nolan | Morias | ||||||
| Robinson | Gosling | 80 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 15 | Goal attempts | 12 |
| 4 | On Target | 2 |
| 3 | Corners | 7 |
| 16 | Fouls | 15 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 5 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 43 | % | 57 |