This evening sees Bristol Rovers make the trip north to the Alexandra Stadium with the Alex’s squad containing 2 former Rovers players in Omar Beckles and Olly Lancashire.
This season:
They sit in 19th place in the league after wins against Northampton Town, Lincoln City, Shrewsbury Town, AFC Wimbledon, Plymouth Argyle and Blackpool, they have drawn against Sunderland, Burton Albion, Rochdale and Wigan Athletic while they have lost against Ipswich Town, Doncaster Rovers, Hull City, Peterborough United, Fleetwood Town, Swindon Town, Gillingham, MK Dons and Charlton Athletic.
In the cups, they knocked out Walsall and Darlington before losing to Sheffield United in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup while they lost against Ipswich in the Carabao Cup 1st Round. They finished 2nd in their EFL Trophy group after a defeat against Walsall (on pens) before wins against Oxford United (on pens) and Chelsea’s Under-21s, they knocked out Leyton Orient in Round 2 before a defeat against AFC Wimbledon in Round 3.
Transfers:
This season they have signed 12 players on permanent deals as well as 4 more on loan deals. Goalkeeper Joe Day is on a season-long loan from Cardiff City while defenders Josh Grant, Jack Baldwin, Max Ehmer, Pablo Martinez, David Tutonda and Ali Koiki all joined on permanent deals. Midfielders Zain Westbrooke, Ben Liddle, Jayden Mitchell-Lawson, Luke McCormick and Erhun Oztumer (the last 3 on loans for the season) with forwards Sam Nicholson, Brandon Hanlan and Ryan Jones completing their deals.
They also let 22 players leave on permanent deals as well as a number of players joining clubs on loan.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 10
Rovers Wins: 9
Draws: 4
Biggest Alex Win: 6-1 at Gresty Road in August 1968
Biggest Rovers Win: 2-0 at the Memorial Stadium in October 1996
Last Meeting:
Crewe Alexandra 3-0 Bristol Rovers, 9th April 2012
Goals from AJ Leitch-Smith and Kelvin Mellor saw the hosts two up within the first 6 minutes with Harry Davis scoring a penalty 4 minutes after half-time.
Alex: Phillips; Davis, Artell, Dugdale, Mellor; Moore (Shelley 72), Westwood, Murphy, Bodin (Brown 89); Powell; Leitch-Smith (Clayton 72)
Rovers: Bevan, Bolger, Parkes, Woodards, Downes, Smith (Zebroski 74), Sawyer (Anyinsah 62), Gill, Lund (Dorman 75), Harrold, Richards
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: David Button, Steve Collis, David Felgate, Owain fon Williams, Jack Prince
Defenders: Norman Bodell, Andrew Carr, Donervon Daniels, Steve Edwards, Dean Howell, Olly Lancashire, Eddie Lyons, Steve Macauley, Stuart Mason, John Pemberton, Bob Scott, Shaun Smith, Eric Snookes
Midfielders: Steve Arnold, Len Bathurst, Ian Bishop, Peter Farrell, Ted Goodier, Wayne Goodison, Brad Inman, Matty Lund, Jimmy McGuigan, Lee Molyneux, Danny Murphy, Hughen Riley, Geoff Thomas, Barrie Wheatley, Donald Whiston
Forwards: Dele Adebola, Vernan Allatt, Harry Anstiss, Eric Betts, Febian Brandy, Harry Bunn, Jack Connor, Chris Dagnall, Anthony Elding, Bill Finney, Bert Foulds, Vince Foweather, Des Frost, Bill Gardner, Dave Goodwin, Peter Gowans, Jimmy Greenhoff, Dennis Isherwood, Steve Jones, Mark Leonard, Frank Lord, John McGuigan, Steve Melledew, John Moore, Bob Mountford, Dave Pearson, Jimmy Pennington, Marc Richards, Michael Symes, Paul Tait, Alan Tarbuck, Tommy Todd, Robbie Wakenshaw, Joe Walters, Ralph Williams
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Martin Coy the referee, Anthony Moore and Alistair Nelson are his assistants with Andrew Dallison the fourth official. Here are the games that Coy has refereed the Alex in the last 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 5-1 Chesterfield (9th September 2017) – Porter (2), Ng, Cooper, Ainley
- Crewe Alexandra 2-3 Wycombe Wanderers (20th January 2018) – Porter, McKirdy
- Tranmere Rovers 1-0 Crewe Alexandra (8th March 2019)
- Crewe Alexandra 5-0 Morecambe (23rd November 2019) – Finney (2), Lowery, Kirk, Wintle
- Crewe Alexandra 3-0 Wigan Athletic (10th October 2020) – Offord, Pickering, Mandron
