Tomorrow afternoon sees the Alex play their first game of 2021 as they make the journey north to Spotland to face Rochdale, ironically the game that would have ended 2020. Both teams have players that are familiar to the opposition fans as Alex Academy Alumni Matty Lund plays for the hosts while defenders Donervon Daniels and Olly Lancashire are in the Railwaymen’s squad.
This season:
They sit in 21st place in the league after wins against Fleetwood Town, Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town, Plymouth Argyle and Wigan Athletic, they have drawn against Portsmouth, Sunderland, Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town while they have lost against Swindon Town, Ipswich Town, Accrington Stanley, Hull City, Oxford United, AFC Wimbledon, Lincoln City, Peterborough United and Gillingham.
In the cups, they have lost to Sheffield Wednesday in the 2nd Round of the EFL Cup after knocking Huddersfield Town in Round 1 while they lost to Stockport County in the FA Cup 1st Round. In the EFL Trophy, they beat Morecambe but lost to Manchester United’s Under-21s (on penalties) and Salford City as they finished in 3rd place in their group.
Transfers:
Rochdale have made 7 signings over the summer, 3 permanently, 3 season-long loans and a loan until January. Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and defender Yeboah Amankwah have both joined on loan from Manchester City with defenders Tolaji Bola (January) and Haydon Roberts both completing the loan signings. Forwards Alex Newby, Stephen Humphrys and Jake Beesley complete their signings joining from Chorley, Southend United and Solihull Moors respectively
They have let 10 players leave the club permanently while 3 players have left the club on loan deals this season.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 51
Dale Wins: 53
Draws: 24
Biggest Alex Win: 6-1 at Gresty Road in November 1929
Biggest Dale Win: 5-0 at Spotland in December 1924
Last Meeting:
Rochdale 2-2 Crewe Alexandra, 16th February 2016
Goals from Rhys Bennett and Joe Bunney inside the first 6 minutes saw the hosts into a commanding position before 2 goals in 4 minutes from Marcus Haber and Ryan Seager saw the Alex level before the half-hour mark.
Alex: Garratt; Turton, Ajayi, Nugent, Guthrie; Inman, Fox, Jones, Bakayogo; Seager (Saunders 37, Kirk 88), Haber
Dale: Lillis, Bennett (Syers 61), Eastham, Lancashire, Rafferty, McNulty, Rose, Lund, Henderson, Mendez-Laing (Noble-Lazarus 59), Bunney (Vincenti 77)
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: David Button, Steve Collis, David Felgate, Owain fon Williams, Jack Prince
Defenders: Norman Bodell, Andrew Carr, Donervon Daniels, Steve Edwards, Dean Howell, Olly Lancashire, Eddie Lyons, Stuart Mason, Steve Macauley, John Pemberton, Bob Scott, Shaun Smith, Eric Snookes
Midfielders: Steve Arnold, Len Bathurst, Ian Bishop, Peter Farrell, Ted Goodier, Wayne Goodison, Brad Inman, Matty Lund, Jimmy McGuigan, Steve Melledew, Lee Molyneux, Danny Murphy, Hughen Riley, Geoff Thomas, Donald Whiston
Forwards: Dele Adebola, Vernon Allatt, Harry Anstiss, Eric Betts, Febian Brandy, Harry Bunn, Jack Connor, Chris Dagnall, Anthony Elding, Bill Finney, Bert Foulds, Des Frost, Bill Gardner, Dave Goodwin, Peter Gowans, Jimmy Greenhoff, Dennis Isherwood, Steve Jones, Mark Leonard, Frank Lord, John McGuigan, John Moore, Bob Mountford, Dave Pearson, Jimmy Pennington, Marc Richards, Michael Symes, Paul Tait, Alan Tarbuck, Tommy Todd, Robbie Wakenshaw, Joe Walters, Barrie Wheatley, Ralph Williams
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Ross Joyce the referee, Barry Gordon and Paul Newhouse are his assistants with Graham Salisbury the fourth official. Here is the only game that Linington has refereed the Alex in the last 5 years:
- 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)
- Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Macclesfield Town (22nd February 2020) – Porter, Walker
