Tomorrow afternoon sees the Alex play the League Two season opener at Rochdale’s Spotland following last season’s relegation.
This season sees changes to the substitutes that can be used, you can now use up to 5 subs from your bench of 7 but you can only make subs in 3 separate windows during the game – changes made at half-time do not count as a window.
Last Season:
Last season saw Dale finish in 18th place in the league with 12 wins, 17 draws and 17 defeats.
They would lose to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup 2nd Round and lost at Burnley in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round. After beating Liverpool’s Under-21s in the opening group game, they would lose to Port Vale and Bolton Wanderers which would see them knocked out in the EFL Trophy group stage.
Transfers:
This summer has seen the club make 9 signings, 7 permanent as well as 2 season-long loan deals. Goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell, defenders Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Cameron John, Femi Seriki and Ben Nelson (the latter 2 are the loan players). Midfielders Toumani Diagouraga and Tyrese Sinclair as well as forwards Devante Rodney and Ian Henderson complete the signings.
They have allowed 15 players to leave the club permanently.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 51
Dale Wins: 53
Draws: 26
Biggest Alex Win: 6-1 at Gresty Road in November 1929
Biggest Dale Win: 5-0 at Spotland in December 1924
Last Meeting:
Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Rochdale, 24th April 2021
Charlie Kirk opened the scoring for the Alex in the 90th minute before substitute Matt Done levelled 7 minutes into stoppage-time.
Alex: Jaaskelainen; Daniels, Lancashire, Pickering; Evans (Ainley 78), Lowery, Murphy (Wintle 29), Adebisi; Mandron, Porter (Dale 78), Kirk (Beckles 90)
Dale: Lynch; O’Connell, McShane (Baah 77), Osho; McLaughlin, Dooley (Done 69), Morley, Grant (Humphrys 69), Keokane; Rathbone (Shaughnessy 85); Beesley
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, Jason Smart, 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, Phil Mullington, Danny Murphy, Hughen Riley, Geoff Thomas, Donald Whiston
Forwards: Dele Adebola, Vernon Allatt, Harry Anstiss, Eric Betts, Febian Brandy, Harry Bunn, Reuben Butler, Jack Connor, Chris Dagnall, Anthony Elding, Bill Finney, Bert Foulds, Vince Foweather, Des Frost, Bill Gardner, Eric Gemmell, 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 Andrew Kitchen the referee, Lewis Raper and Helen Edwards are his assistants with Simon Clayton the fourth official. The following Crewe games have been refereed by Kitchen in the last 5 years:
- Crewe Alexandra 1-3 Portsmouth (8th Mar 2022) – Long
- Lincoln City 2-1 Crewe Alexandra (30th Apr 2022) – Long
