Tomorrow afternoon sees Crewe Alexandra host Grimsby Town in the first of two home games in 4 days with the re-arranged home game with Mansfield Town taking place on Tuesday night. Grimsby, managed by former Crewe coach Michael Jolley, started the season poorly with 7 losses in the first 10 games but have picked up 10 points from the last 4 games, keeping clean sheets in all of those games.
Looking at the hosts, so far this season they have 4 victories, 3 draws and 7 losses in the league as they sit in 19th place. They have beaten Macclesfield Town, Carlisle United, Port Vale and Colchester United, their draws have come against Lincoln City, MK Dons and Exeter City whilst the losses have come against Forest Green Rovers, Newport County, Yeovil Town, Bury, Oldham Athletic, Stevenage and Morecambe.
In cup competitions, they lost 2-0 to Rochdale in the EFL Cup whilst they have beat Notts County and lost to Doncaster in the EFL Trophy in a group that also contains Newcastle United’s Under-21 team.
Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met 62 times with Grimsby leading the head-to-head with 24 wins to 23 with 15 draws. Crewe’s biggest win came in a 5-0 victory at the Alexandra Stadium in February 2017 while Grimsby’s biggest win came by the same scoreline at their previous home of Abbey Park. Last season saw the home team win both games, Grimsby winning at Blundell Park 1-0 in September with Crewe winning the corresponding fixture on New Years’ Day 2-0.
Who are the officials for the game?
The officials for this game see Peter Wright as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Abbas Khan and Ian Smedley with Richard Wild being the fourth official. It’s the first time that the Alex have been refereed by Wright and the second that he’ll have been the man in the middle for Grimsby (the other being their 1-1 draw with MK Dons in August).
