Assistant manager says players eager to step up

Neil Baker was pleased that Crewe Alexandra came through a tricky Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie on penalties. The club’s assistant manager was delighted that the majority of the side stepped forward to take the spot-kicks after Doncaster’s Chris Brown cancelled out Mathias Pogba’s opener.

Baker told the club’s official web-site:  “I am pleased that we got through. We did okay but the most important thing is that we got through and are in the next round.

“We changed the team a bit and sometimes when you do that, you can get a disjointed performance and I think that was the case for the first half an hour. It was frustrating but we managed to get ourselves going and had some chances towards the end of the first half. Brad got in twice and we scored after a good move.

“If we deserved to be 1-0 up at half-time is up for debate and we didn’t start too well in the second half and in those conditions it could have gone either way.

“They scored right at the death and it took it straight to penalties, but we had 7 or 8 stepping forward and wanting them. We don’t force anyone, so it was good to have that number step forward and Ryan Colclough and Duggy put their hands up as well.

It is never easy taking a penalty because it is different from the training ground. There is bit of a crowd here and it’s  There is some pressure on them and they took them well. We do practice them and it was nice to see them go in and for us to get through.”
not on the astro-turf at the training ground."