Tomorrow night sees the Alex head north to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium in the first round of this season’s EFL Cup. So far this season, the Boro drew 3-3 at Luton Town before a 1-0 home defeat against Brentford on Saturday.
Over the summer, Boro has signed 5 players over the summer with the arrivals of goalkeeper Tomas Mejias (who returned after a season playing in Cyprus), defenders Marc Bola and Anfernee Dijksteel, midfielder Marcus Browne and forward Rumarn Burrell.
Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met just 4 times over the years with Middlesbrough winning 2 games to 1 with 1 draw. The Alex’s only victory came in the first meeting back in January 1888 with Middlesbrough’s biggest win coming in this competition in October 1961. The other 2 meetings occurred during our first season in the 2nd tier (97/98) with a draw at home while Boro won the game at the Riverside.
Who are the officials for the game?
The officials for this game see Michael Salisbury as the man in the middle with Stephen Wade and Graeme Fyvie his assistants and Daniel Woodward as the fourth official. The following Crewe games have been refereed by Salisbury in the last 5 years:
- Grimsby Town 0-2 Crewe Alexandra (17th September 2016) – Jones, Cooper
- Cheltenham Town 1-1 Crewe Alexandra (FA Cup, 5th November 2016) – Jones
- Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Wycombe Wanderers (14th February 2017) – Jones, Dagnall
- Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Cambridge United (12th September 2017)
- Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Colchester United (17th February 2018) – Miller
- Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Cheltenham Town (5th May 2018) – Miller (2)
- Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Shrewsbury Town (EFL Trophy, 13th November 2018) – Bowery
