Kelvin Mellor’s second goal of the season saw Crewe Alexandra gain another point on the road at Mansfield Town, the hosts taking the lead through George Maris who would be sent off in the final 10 minutes for a straight red card.
Manager Lee Bell made two changes from last Saturday’s 0-0 home draw against AFC Wimbledon with goalkeeper Dave Richards starting with Arsenal loanee Arthur Okonkwo set to return to his parent club while new signing Elliott Nevitt making his debut up front as Bassala Sambou dropped down to the bench where Tom Booth joined him, recalled from a loan spell at Nantwich Town. Former Alex striker Jordan Bowery started up front for the hosts.
The opening chance fell to the visitors in the 4th minute with Richards making a save from Callum Johnson before Dan Agyei set up Tariq Uwakwe at the other end a minute later. Rhys Oates would lob the ball over Richards on 13 minutes with the ball landing on the roof of the net before Uwakwe would see an effort saved by Christy Pym. Maris would open the scoring 3 minutes before the break as he got onto the end of Johnson’s cross.
The Alex would equalise 10 minutes after half-time with Agyei’s pass finding Mellor whose effort with the outside of his foot beat Pym into the middle of his goal before Richards would make a save as a drive from the edge of the area was flicked goalwards by Johnson on the hour-mark. The Welsh keeper would deny Stephen Quinn’s header with his foot before the hosts lost their goalscorer as substitute Callum Ainley was brought down by the midfielder with 9 minutes to play.
The next games for the Alex host Stockport County next Saturday before travelling to Stevenage the following Saturday (both are 3:00 pm kick-offs).
What can we take out of this game?
Another point on the road thanks to a few decent saves from our keeper, this time Richards making them – exactly what you need from someone playing their first league game of the season.
We’ll see over the next few days what is going to happen with Okonkwo (rumours are that he’s heading to Sturm Graz on loan from Arsenal for the rest of the season) but it’s a shame if he doesn’t play again for the Alex as well as for Booth who would benefit from playing senior games instead of sitting on the Alex bench.
Field Mill
League 2
14/01/2023 4:00 pm
Attendance: 6142
Referee: Carl Boyeson
| Mansfield Town | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maris | Mellor | ||||||
| Pym | Richards | ||||||
| Johnson | Mellor | ||||||
| Hewitt | O'Riordan | ||||||
| Perch | McDonald | ||||||
| McLaughlin | Adebisi | ||||||
| Wallace | 76 | Brook | |||||
| Maris | Griffiths | ||||||
| Quinn | 83 | Thomas | |||||
| Boateng | Uwakwe | 65 | |||||
| Bowery | Nevitt | 65 | |||||
| Oates | Agyei | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Flinders | Booth | ||||||
| Gordon | Ainley | 65 | |||||
| Law | 83 | Sambou | 65 | ||||
| Kilgour | 86 | Tabiner | |||||
| Swan | 76 | Evans | |||||
| Knowles | Holicek | ||||||
| O'Toole | Lunt | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 17 | Goal attempts | 10 |
| 5 | On Target | 3 |
| 8 | Corners | 6 |
| 12 | Fouls | 12 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 53 | % | 47 |