This afternoon sees the second Cheshire Derby of the league season with Macclesfield Town with them making the short journey south. They sit in 22nd place and will be looking to build on the 1-1 draw between the clubs last month at the Moss Rose.
So far this season, they have beaten Leyton Orient, Northampton Town, Scunthorpe United, Port Vale, Oldham Athletic and Cambridge United and Forest Green Rovers, they have drawn with Stevenage, Crawley Town, Newport County, Colchester United, Cambridge United, Mansfield Town, Salford City, Bradford City, Walsall, Grimsby Town, Vale, Oldham, us, Orient and Plymouth Argyle while they have lost to Exeter City twice, Morecambe twice, Swindon Town, Grimsby, Cheltenham Town, Carlisle United, Forest Green, Colchester, Newport and Northampton.
In the cups, they beat Blackpool on penalties before losing to Grimsby via the same method in the EFL Cup whilst they lost to Kingstonian in Round 1 of the FA Cup. In the EFL Trophy, they finished in third in their group despite winning against Newcastle United’s Under-21 side but lost to the Vale and Shrewsbury Town in the other games.
Since the first meeting, they have made 4 signings with midfielders Harry Hamblin and Ben Tollitt, as well as forward Donovan Wilson, all joining permanent deals while winger Shilow Tracey has joined on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. Midfielder Jay Harris has joined Wrexham and full-back Miles Welch-Hayes has joined Colchester United, both on free transfers.
Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met 13 times with the Alex leading the head-to-head with 6 wins to 3 with 4 draws. Macclesfield’s biggest win came at the Moss Rose as they won 4-1 in December 2009 whilst the Alex’s biggest win came in September 2008 with a 3-0 victory at the Alexandra Stadium in the EFL Trophy.
Who are the officials for the game?
The officials for this game see Ross Joyce as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Craig Taylor and Wayne Grunnill with Aaron Jackson being the fourth official. The following Alex games have been refereed by Joyce in the last 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Cambridge United (3rd October 2015) – Fox
- Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Rochdale (6th February 2016) – Haber, Inman
- Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Mansfield Town (1st October 2016) – Dagnall
- Accrington Stanley 3-2 Crewe Alexandra (8th April 2017) – Cooke, Dagnall
- Crewe Alexandra 0-5 Carlisle United (23rd September 2017)
- Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Port Vale (2nd November 2019)
