Tomorrow evening, Crewe Alexandra host Bristol Rovers in the second round of the FA Cup with the visitors’ squad containing former Alex midfielder Antony Evans, the winners of the tie travel to Norwich City in Round 3 in the first weekend in January.
This Season:
This season sees the Gas sitting in 13th place in League 1 having beaten Charlton Athletic, Shrewsbury Town, Wigan Athletic, Port Vale, Northampton Town and Carlisle United, they have drawn with Portsmouth, Barnsley, Lincoln City, Stevenage, Reading, Leyton Orient and Cheltenham Town while they have lost against Cambridge United, Bristol Rovers, Wycombe Wanderers, Peterborough United, Oxford United, Burton Albion and Derby County.
They beat Whitby Town in the FA Cup 1st Round and lost against Ipswich Town in the same round Carabao Cup. In the EFL Trophy, they finished 2nd in their group after wins against Cheltenham and Newport County on either side of a defeat against West Ham United’s Under-21s before losing to Crawley Town in Round 2.
Transfers:
This summer has seen them make 8 permanent and 5 loan signings while 10 players have left the club permanently with 9 players leaving on loan deals.
Joining the ranks at the Memorial Stadium are goalkeeper Matt Hall, defenders James Wilson, George Friend, Connor Taylor and Jack Hunt with forwards Jevani Brown, Luke Thomas and Chris Martin completing the signings. Goalkeeper Matthew Cox, defender Tristian Crama and midfielders Harvey Vale, Lamare Bogarde and Ryan Woods have joined the club on loan.
Leaving the club permanently were Harry Anderson, Paul Coutts, Calum Macdonald, Alex Rodman, Malik Sesay, Glenn Whelan, Lucas Vaughan, Jamie Egan, Lene Burden and Ryan Loft.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 12
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
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Crewe Alexandra, 1st May 2021
Callum Ainley scored the only goal of the game in the 18th minute.
Crewe: Jaaskelainen; Adebisi, Lancashire, Daniels (Beckles 75), Pickering; Evans, Wintle, Ainley; Dale, Mandron (Porter 87), Kirk
Booked – n/a
Rovers: Day; Williams, Kilgour, Baldwin, Leahy; Hare (Liddle 57), Rodman, Hargreaves, Westbrooke (Tutonda 85), Oztumer (Daly 57); Hanlan (Walker 82)
Booked – Baldwin 41
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: Neil Etheridge, Lee Jones, Phil Kite, Fred Latham, Brian Parkin, Steve Phillips, Scott Shearer
Defenders: Marcus Bignot, Darren Carr, Mark Foran, James Tunnicliffe, Danny Woodards
Midfielders: Andy Bond, Junior Brown, Charlie Colkett, Antony Evans, Matty Lund, Bob Scorer, Kevin Street
Forwards: Joe Anyinsah, Graham Barrett, Billy Bodin, Maurice Dando, Chris Dickson, Nathan Ellington, Alan Fletcher, Tom Hitchcock, Francis Joseph, Lee Matthews, Byron Moore, Bill Pendergast, George Pither, Paul Tait, Gareth Taylor, Tommy Wyper
Officials:
The FA have announced that Declan Bourne is tomorrow’s referee with Bradley Hall & Kevin Morris assisting him and Michael Barlow the fourth official. Bourne has refereed the following Crewe games in the last 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 3-4 Shrewsbury Town (10th November 2020, EFL Trophy) – Powell (2), Zanzala
- Wigan Athletic 2-0 Crewe Alexandra (17th April 2021)
- Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Lincoln City (7th December 2021) – Mandron (2)
- Doncaster Rovers 2-0 Crewe Alexandra (9th April 2022)
- Crewe Alexandra 3-0 Harrogate Town (6th August 2022) – Agyei, Mellor, Baker-Richardson
- Harrogate Town 0-1 Crewe Alexandra (28th October 2023) – Williams
