Notts County came out on top of a bad tempered affair at Gresty Road as Luke Rodgers and Ashley Westwood see red.
The Magpies went 1-0 just five minutes into the second half with a free kick floated in towards the far posted diverted into the back of the net by Mike Edwards.
This after Steve Cotterill’s men were awarded a first half penalty after a minor foul by loanee Chris Stokes. Thankfully for the Alex ‘keeper Steve Phillips was more than up to the task of denying penalty taker Davies.
Things hotted up in the final minutes when Luke Rodgers, frustrated by constant jeers from the Alex crowd and having just missed a glorious chance to put his side 2-0 ahead, had a scuffle with Ashley Westwood.
The referee immediately sent Westwood off after judging him to have kicked out at Rodgers whilst a yellow card for Rodgers was converted to a red after the referee had spoken to the fourth official.
Player Ratings
Steve Phillips
Well saved penalty and poorly protected for the goal there’s little to really fault Phillips on. 7/10
John Brayford
Quiet game from Brayford. Did what he had to do, made a couple of darting runs down the wing. 6/10
Danny O’Donnell
About as solid as you get from O’Donnell. He’s never going to be spectacular because I don’t think he’s up to the standard. A few stutters but a relatively ok game for DOD. 6/10
Mat Mitchel-King
As with O’Donnell there is always a tendency with King that his concentration will slip. Thankfully not today and Notts County were fairly limited in terms of goal chances. 7/10
Chris Stokes
Gave away the penalty which seemed a slightly harsh decision but a case of another day, another referee. He also gave away a free kick which led to the Notts goal. Otherwise a ok game from Stokes, solid enough in his defending although his passing was slightly wayward. 7/10
Luke Murphy
Fairly ok game from Murphy though he tended to drift into the middle from the right side too often. 6/10
Ashley Westwood
With Bailey he was a driving force in the first half. He sat too deep in the second half, especially when we know he’s a threat with his goals at the moment. He shouldn’t have fallen for Rodgers’ bait however, losing him points. 6/10
James Bailey
Him and Westwood seemed to have the better of the midfield in the first half. Going about his job quietly Bailey was definitely missed once he went off injured. 8/10
Joel Grant
Energetic performance from Grant, did a lot of running both on and off the ball without much reward. Still a lot to prove he remains a player who needs to become more of a consistent thread.7/10
Shaun Miller
A very good first half from Miller, causing County a lot of problems with his pace and flair. Quietened down in the second half, perhaps because they tightened up on him. 7/10
Clayton Donaldson
He seemed to be a marked man. A lot of ‘mis-timed’ tackles coming in from black and white shirts on Donaldson and it made for a pretty frustrating first half. He was a bit more threatening in the second but all in all he failed to really get to grips with the game today. 6/10
Manager Rating
Lost out in the battle of the half time team talks and then made a point of taking a swipe at Crewe fans again for cheering as Rodgers went over a advertising board. I doubt anyone really was wishing real harm to come to Rodgers so Dario’s just starting to come across as a bit of a miserable old man right now rather than the manager of CAFC.
Opponent Rating
Steve Cotterill got a bit gobby over the shenanigans with Rodgers and Westwood.
Referee Rating
Should have stamped his authority on the game, and a bad tempered Notts County side, from the off. He didn’t and made more of a hash of things as the game went on. To give Rodgers a yellow then have to change it to a red was laughable. 3/10