A late Ryan Cooney penalty saw Crewe Alexandra defeat Fleetwood Town at Highbury Stadium yesterday, a result that saw the visitors move back into the top 7 places.
Manager Lee Bell made 2 changes from Saturday’s 1-1 home draw against Salford City as Joel Tabiner and Adrien Thibaut came into the team for Kian Breckin (who dropped down to the bench) and Mickey Demetriou, who missed out through a knock suffered in that game allowing Zac Williams the opportunity to captain the team in his absence.
The opening chance came in the 22nd minute as a long-range shot from Mackenzie Hunt was saved easily by Filip Marschall before Carl Johnston got into the box with the Town wing-back pulling the ball to the edge of the area where Phoenix Patterson’s effort was deflected over for a corner.
The next chance would see Mark Helm have an effort saved by Marschall behind for a corner just after the half-hour mark before the Villa loanee would tip a Patterson effort from the left onto the bar in the 36th minute. The first Alex effort saw Tabiner cross in for Thibaut with the forward volleying into the side netting on 39 minutes before Marschall would save from another Hunt long-ranger after the break.
Substitute Omar Bogle would head a Max Conway wide of the goal midway through the second half before a cross from the left from Patterson was headed over by Johnston a minute later. The Alex won a penalty with 5 minutes to play as substitute Owen Lunt was brought down by Hunt with Cooney sending goalkeeper Harrington the wrong way from 12 yards out.
The next games for the Alex see them host Tranmere Rovers on Saturday before hosting Dagenham & Redbridge the following Saturday in the FA Cup 1st Round.
Final Thoughts:
This was a game that the team grew into as the game went on with Marschall being the star of the team, especially with the save he made from Patterson late in the first half, where he kept the score level as the hosts shaded the first half.
The Alex should have had a penalty with 8 minutes to play as Bogle was dragged back by a defender with ref Sebastian Stockbridge somehow not giving the pen then giving the one on Lunt a few minutes later.
Highbury Stadium
League 2
22/10/2024 7:45 pm
Attendance: 2725
Referee: Sebastian Stockbridge
| Fleetwood Town | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooney | |||||||
| Harrington | Marschall | ||||||
| Wiredu (c) | Connolly | ||||||
| Potter | Knight-Lebel | ||||||
| Hunt | Williams (c) | ||||||
| Johnston | 75 | Cooney | |||||
| Virtue | Tabiner | 61 | |||||
| Helm | Sanders | 80 | |||||
| Mayor | 75 | Holicek | 90 | ||||
| Patterson | Conway | ||||||
| Coughlan | 80 | Tracey | |||||
| Graydon | Thibaut | 61 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Lynch | Booth | ||||||
| Bonds | 75 | Thomas | 80 | ||||
| Harratt | 80 | Bogle | 61 | ||||
| Broom | 75 | Lunt | 61 | ||||
| Lonergan | Finney | ||||||
| Shaw | Breckin | 90 | |||||
| Hughes | Billington | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 15 | Goal attempts | 7 |
| 5 | On Target | 2 |
| 8 | Corners | 5 |
| 8 | Fouls | 12 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 58 | % | 42 |