- Fisher's Reds progress
- Forward line on fire
- Gibbons at the double
Matt Fisher's Reds booked their place into the next round of the Alliance Design and Print Cup by thumping four goals past Fleetwood Town.
Strikes courtesy of Leah Collins, Amanda Fallon and a brace from Katie Gibbons meant the Alex sailed into the hat.
The Alex were without Emily Cole who is on international duty with Wales, but Kirsty Stafford and experienced forward Fallon returned after four weeks out with an ankle injury.
Emilia Edwards was also a welcomed addition to the starting XI after last week's defeat to Blackburn.
Crewe broke the deadlock early on with a wonder strike from Collins, but it was cancelled out within a minute of the restart.
Academy graduate Edwards linked up with Collins on the edge of the Fleetwood box and the latter smashed the ball into the top right-hand corner of the visitors goal.
Fleetwood piled some pressure onto the home side but Crewe remained calm and grew into the half.
The Reds came close on the half hour mark when Edwards beat her marker before fizzing a shot just wide. Moments later, Gibbons saw her strike rebound off the post.
Crewe did regain the lead in the 38th minute as Collins raced clear of the Fleetwood backline and her effort was well saved by Libby Walmsley, but the Fleetwood stopper couldn't do anything to stop Gibbons from tapping in the rebound.
Fisher's side started the second half much like they ended the first by controlling play and penning the visitors into their own half.
Gibbons was heavily involved after moving into a central role. She intelligently latched onto a loose ball from just outside the area and her right footed strike had too much height for the back peddling Walmsley, who could only watch on as the ball looped over her head and into the back of the net.
With the tie all but confirmed Head Coach, Fisher rang the changes. Fallon received a wonderful applause from the home supporters after making his first appearance since returning from injury and Ellie Jones replaced Kirsty Stafford.
Collins nearly made it four as she smashed the ball onto the Fleetwood post and then the home side had a goal ruled out for offside.
On 74 minutes Shanice Finbow's free-kick looked destined for the corner, but the keeper pulled off a wonderful stop as Fallon stabbed home on the goal line - unfortunately her celebrations were cut short though as the referee's assistant flag was raised.
The scoring was complete on 83 minutes. Emma Heath beat two opponents before striking the ball across the woodwork, but the rebound fell to Fallon who was on hand to smash the ball home from close-range.
Matt Fisher said: "It was a great game to watch. We had to absorb some early pressure, but I was pleased with the character that we showed in those early stages. We then managed to get a foothold in the game and then went on to dominate.
"Every player put in a real shift. You could see how quickly we adapted to the opponents gameplan and the players did what they had to do to stop that."
Crewe travel to Macclesfield FC this Sunday (February, 18) in the Cheshire County Cup Quarter-Final.