Goals from substitute Rhys Allport and Connor Evans see Crewe Alexandra defeat Newcastle United’s Under-21s in the final EFL Trophy group game at the Alexandra Stadium.
Manager Lee Bell made 6 changes from last Tuesday’s 3-1 win at Derby County as Tom Booth, Nathan Robinson, Zak Kempster-Down (for his first-team debut), Conor Thomas, Calum Agius and Connor Evans (back from his loan spell with Chester) all came into the team with Harvey Davies, Mickey Demetriou, the suspended Luke Offord, Rio Adebisi, Joe White (who was not allowed to play against his parent club) and Courtney Baker-Richardson all having the night off – 7 more members (after Robinson and Agius) of the Under-18s were named on the bench.
The game’s opening chance came in the 11th minute as Aaron Rowe had a shot that was deflected behind for a corner before Evans lobbed a header over the bar before the break.
Bell would make 5 changes at the break with Lewis Nolan being joined on the pitch by debutants Allport, Matthew Senior, Lucas Sant and Stan Dancey with one of these substitutes opening the scoring 2 minutes after the break with Newcastle keeper Aidan Harris making a mistake that allowed Allport to score. Newcastle would level on the hour mark after Senior brought down his man, James Huntley beating Booth into the bottom corner.
Evans would hit the post on 66 minutes before Booth would deny Scott at the other end 6 minutes later with Evans scoring the winner 7 minutes from time.
The next couple of games see the Alex host Doncaster Rovers on Saturday before travelling to Sutton United next Tuesday.
Final Thoughts:
It was a cracking result against a Category 1 academy setup and good to see another 5 players that have come through our academy to play first-team games, even if it was in a dead rubber as neither team could advance to the knockout rounds.
I think the only reason why we saw so many senior players starting was due to the following rules:
For anyone wondering why #CreweAlex are starting the likes of Cooney and Thomas tonight, here's why: pic.twitter.com/WxCERi7t0w
— Standing Alone (@StandingAlone77) November 21, 2023
Alexandra Stadium
EFL Trophy
21/11/2023 8:45 pm
Attendance: 551
Referee: Scott Tallis
| Crewe Alexandra | Newcastle United Under-21s | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allport, Evans | Huntley | ||||||
| Booth | Harris | ||||||
| Robinson | Shahar | ||||||
| Billington | Heffernan | ||||||
| Kempster-Down | Savage | ||||||
| Cooney | 46 | Charlton | |||||
| Thomas | 46 | Carlyon | |||||
| Colkett | 46 | Scott | |||||
| Finney | 46 | Huntley | |||||
| Rowe | 46 | Neave | 68 | ||||
| Agius | Sanusi | ||||||
| Evans | Stephenson | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Lenarcik | Brown | ||||||
| Nolan | 46 | Mavididi | |||||
| Allport | 46 | Milmore | |||||
| Senior | 46 | Powell | |||||
| Sant | 46 | Brayson | 68 | ||||
| Collins | L. Watts | ||||||
| Dancey | 46 | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 17 | Goal attempts | 15 |
| 5 | On Target | 8 |
| 6 | Corners | 7 |
| 5 | Fouls | 13 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 52 | % | 48 |