A second-half brace from Reid saw Stevenage come from behind at the Alexandra Stadium against Crewe Alexandra, moving into the top 2 in the process, despite Rod McDonald’s opener.
Manager Alex Morris made eight changes from Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers in the EFL Trophy as he almost reverted to the same team that drew at Bradford City in the league last week, full-back Kelvin Mellor failed a fitness test with Bassala Sambou coming into the team – Tariq Uwakwe would play at right-back – Chris Long would return to the matchday squad following injury and would make the bench.
The hosts had the opening chance of the game in the 18th minute with Uwakwe’s cross finding Dan Agyei who was fouled by Terence Vercooten with Taye Ashby-Hammond saving Conor Thomas’ penalty to his right before the Alex took the lead 9 minutes later with McDonald heading home a corner from Uwakwe.
The equaliser came 3 minutes into the second half as a low drive from Luke Norris was saved by Arthur Owonkwo with strike partner Reid the first to react to score from close range before Reid would have another chance minutes later that whistled past the post. The second came midway through the second half as a cross from the left from left wing-back Saxon Earley saw Owonkwo punching teammate Courtney Baker-Richardson with Reid getting an easy tap-in before Long would replace Sambou on the left for the Alex but it was not enough to create a chance for an equaliser.
The next games for the Alex sees a trip to Grimsby Town next Saturday before travelling to Hartlepool United the following Tuesday.
What can we take out of this game?
Another weak ref that allowed the game to get away before the yellow card was removed from his pocket (Carl Piergianni made 2 fouls that on another day could have seen him booked for challenges from behind) and shown to a player on the pitch as well as a second-half performance where you wonder what gets said at half-time.
The game could have been out of Stevenage’s reach if chances had been taken during the first half before a lacklustre second period allowed Stevenage to get a couple of simple goals to win the game.