This afternoon sees Fleetwood Town make the trip south to the Alexandra Stadium, unfortunately, there will be no fans in the ground as Cheshire East moves back into Tier 3. Both sets of fans will recognise one player in the opposing squad as former Alex loanee Sam Stubbs is with the Cod Army while Mika Mandron is a former Fleetwood Town striker.
This season:
They sit in 10th place in the league after wins against Burton Albion, Hull City, Gillingham, Shrewsbury Town, Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle and Swindon Town, they have drawn against Lincoln City, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Wigan Athletic while they have lost against Peterborough United, AFC Wimbledon, Rochdale, Accrington Stanley, Charlton Athletic, Northampton Town and Blackpool.
In the cups, they have lost to Hull City in the 1st Round of the FA Cup while against Everton in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round after beating Wigan and Port Vale in the previous rounds. In the EFL Trophy, they topped their group after beating Carlisle United, Aston Villa’s Under-21s and Sunderland before knocking local rivals Blackpool out on penalties in Round 2 – they’ll play Hull in a couple of weeks in the area quarter-finals.
Transfers:
Fleetwood have made 13 signings over the summer, 8 permanently and 5 season-long loans. Goalkeepers Joel Coleman and Jayson Leutwiler have arrived from Huddersfield Town and Blackburn Rovers respectively with defenders Stubbs, Jake Wallace, Morgan Boyes, Tom Edwards and Charlie Mulgrew (the last 3 on loan) also joining. Midfielders Callum Camps, Jordan Rossiter, Mark Duffy, Sam Finley and Callum Connolly (loan) while forward Barrie McKay (loan) completes the signings.
They have let 14 players leave the club permanently this season while 8 players have left the club on loan deals this season.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 1
Fleetwood Wins: 4
Draws: 1
Biggest Alex Win: 2-0 at the Alexandra Stadium in February 2015
Biggest Dons Win: 4-0 at Highbury in October 2013 (EFL Trophy)
Last Meeting:
Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Fleetwood Town (Fleetwood won 4-3 on pens), 14th February 2018, EFL Cup
Ryan Wintle gave the Alex the lead in the 32nd minute with Jason Holt equalising 20 minutes later for the visitors. James Jones would miss the first penalty for the hosts before 3 successful penalties for each team was ended with Biggins having his penalty saved by Dave Richards. Perry Ng missed the fifth Alex pen with Ashley Hunter winning the tie for the Cod Army.
Alex: Richards; Ng, Hunt, Nolan, Pickering; Jones, Wintle, Ainley (Reilly 90); Nicholls, Bowery, Kirk (Lowery 78)
Fleetwood: Cairns; Coyle, G. Jones, Spurr, Bolger, Sowerby, Biggins, Sheron (Holt 46), Madden, Burns (Long 83), McAleny (Hunter 70)
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: n/a
Defenders: Junior Brown, Dean Howell, Kevin O’Connor, Mark Roberts, Sam Stubbs
Midfielders: Keith Briggs, Phil Charnock, Phil Clarkson, Paul Edwards, Gareth Evans, Alex Kiwomya, Andy Lyons, Antoni Sarcevic, Steven Schumacher
Forwards: Andy Haddock, Tom Hitchcock, Mikael Mandron, John Miles, Alex Titchiner, Thomas Wagstaffe, Robbie Wakenshaw
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Tom Nield the referee, Marvyn Amphlett and Matthew Smith are his assistants with Peter Wright the fourth official. Here is the only game that Linington has refereed the Alex in the last 5 years:
- Chesterfield 0-2 Crewe Alexandra (26th December 2017) – Porter, Kirk
- Crawley Town 1-2 Crewe Alexandra (28th April 2018) – Ng, Pickering
- Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Cambridge United (27th November 2018) – Ainley, Miller
- Crawley Town 1-2 Crewe Alexandra (20th August 2019) – Wintle, Green
- Plymouth Argyle 2-1 Crewe Alexandra (15th February 2020) – Pickering
