Two penalty saves from on-loan goalkeeper Max Stryjek saw Crewe Alexandra overcome a 2-goal deficit to defeat Doncaster Rovers in the second leg of the League Two play-off at the ECO-Power Stadium yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 4 changes from Monday’s 2-0 home defeat in the first leg as Ed Turns, Conor Thomas, Aaron Rowe and Chris Long came in for the injured Zac Williams as well as Ryan Cooney, Matus Holicek and Josh Austerfield, the latter three dropping down to the bench that contained no goalkeeper. Former Alex loanee Jamie Sterry started for the hosts while Alex Academy alum Billy Waters was named among their substitutes.
The game’s opening chance and goal of the game came in the 6th minute with stand-in skipper Mickey Demetriou heading in a Joel Tabiner corner, the defender scoring his 10th goal of the season in the process, before the lead on the night was doubled 10 minutes later as a low cross from Long was turned into his own net by James Maxwell under pressure from Thomas.
After a double change just before the hour mark as Austerfield and Holicek replaced Long and Tabiner, it was the hosts with the next chance on 63 minutes as defender Richard Wood headed wide after he stayed up following a set-piece before Elliott Nevitt forced Timothee Lo-Tutula into a save as the forward tried to find substitute Courtney Baker-Richardson 8 minutes later. Stryjek would also tip an effort from Luke Molyneux onto the post in extra-time as the game would go to penalties.
Baker-Richardson would smash his spot-kick into the top corner before Joe Ironside tucked his under Stryjek. Demetriou would have his penalty saved by To-Tutula before substitute Zain Westbrooke would have his tipped onto the post by Stryjek. Cooney, George Miller, Lewis Leigh (back from suspension for the Alex as a sub) and Owen Bailey would all score for their respective teams with Charlie Kirk finishing into the bottom corner before Stryjek saved from Hakeeb Adelakun to send the visitors into the play-off final.
The next games sees the Alex travelling to Wembley for the final on Sunday 19th May with a 1 pm kick-off.
Final Thoughts:
This team man! Just when you think that everything is going against us – results like this, the Derby cup tie etc. happen.
The game saw us blow Doncaster away in the opening 20 minutes before they got back into the game as we regrouped for the rest of the game with Max and the backline defending well to see us through to the shootout.
ECO-Power Stadium
League 2
10/05/2024 8:00 pm
Attendance: 12889
Referee: Scott Oldham
| Doncaster Rovers | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demetriou, og | |||||||
| Lo-Tutala | Stryjek | ||||||
| Sterry | 112 | Billington | |||||
| Anderson | Turns | ||||||
| Wood | Demetriou | ||||||
| Maxwell | 112 | Adebisi | |||||
| Bailey | Thomas | 85 | |||||
| Craig | 101 | Tabiner | 59 | ||||
| Molyneux | Tracey | 65 | |||||
| Rowe | 60 | Rowe | 85 | ||||
| Adelakun | Long | 59 | |||||
| Ironside | Nevitt | 104 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Jones | Cooney | 85 | |||||
| Olowu | 112 | Baker-Richardson | 65 | ||||
| Broadbent | Leigh | 85 | |||||
| Miller | 112 | Holicek | 59 | ||||
| Hurst | 60 | Finney | |||||
| Westbrooke | 101 | Austerfield | 59 | ||||
| Waters | Kirk | 104 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 15 | Goal attempts | 8 |
| 5 | On Target | 2 |
| 10 | Corners | 6 |
| 9 | Fouls | 8 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 61 | % | 39 |