Andy King headed home a second half corner to break Crewe hearts at the Walkers Stadium after Calvin Zola had cancelled out Matty Fryatt's early opener. Crewe looked orgainsed and were executing a game plan to perfection until we allowed King too much of a run at a corner.
Caretaker manager Dario Gradi did as expected when handing reserve goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson his first league start since Boxing Day 2006, but also did the unexpected by giving Colin Daniel his first competitive start for the club. His only other appearance for the club was as a brief substitute against Hartlepool United last season.
To fit a 4-5-1 system, Calvin Zola returned to the starting line-up following a bout of athletes foot and that meant no place for either Clayton Donaldson nor Shaun Miller, who both started on Saturday. Northern Ireland international Michael O'Connor completed the midfield five following his one match suspension.
Tomlinson was called into action fairly early when having to palm away an early free-kick from Lloyd Dyer and Crewe dealt with the resulting corner with relative ease.
Crewe Alexandra's first effort on goal came in the fifth minute when captain Julien Baudet met Kenny Lunt's deep free-kick delivery with a firm header. The on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper David Martin made the save looked relatively comfortable at his near post.
On 11 minutes, Leicester nearly took the lead following an exquisite pass from their experienced captain Matt Oakley. He found his midfield partner Andy King inside the Crewe penalty area with a wonderfully floated pass and after he rode his luck a little to nip it past Daniel O'Donnell, he lashed rather wildly over Tomlinson's crossbar.
The home side did take the lead just three minutes later though with a superbly crafted move down Crewe's right hand side. In the initial build up, Danny Woodards was rather unfortunate not to intercept possession in the Leicester back four, but once the right-sided midfielder had lost it, they exposed his absence superbly.
The rampaging Joe Mattock played an intelligent one-two to take John Brayford out of the equation, before they teed up the prolific Matty Fryatt inside the box. The former Walsall striker composed himself before firing home his 16th goal of the season past a helpless Tomlinson. It was a superb finish from a striker bang in form.
Crewe had been organised and compact up to that point but having gone a goal behind again and so early against the division's top team, it was already going to be a test of character. It nearly became doubly worse for the Railwaymen but Tomlinson did superbly to deny DJ Campbell a share of the spoils after Fryatt tried to make a nuisance of himself. Tomlinson foiled the former Birmingham striker at his feet.
In reply, Crewe did muster a tame shot at Martin's goal from Woodards, which sailed harmlessly over, but in a number of passages of play, Crewe played some fine possession football and were winning a host of free-kicks.
On 25 minutes, the Alex fans situation in the right hand corner of the Walkers Stadium, believed they had a shout for a penalty when Calvin Zola went down following a tangle with Aleksander Tunchev. Zola may have fallen rather easily after a tug of his arm, but strangely the referee penalised the Crewe striker for what must have been an earlier pull on the Leicester centre-back.
Tomlinson produced another fine save to keep out an Oakley header and that proved to be the springboard for another Crewe surge up the pitch. Billy Jones in an advanced position charged down an intended clearance from DJ Campbell and Zola did the rest. The Alex man held off the intentions of Marc Edworthy and Michael Morrison before firing past Martin for his fourth goal of the season. It silenced the Walkers Stadium and certainly warmed up the Alex contingent.
The first half ended with how it began, with Leicester City enjoying the majority of the possession and enjoying the better of the chances. King fired wide after breaking forward late into the box once again and Tomlinson had to be mindful of a clever volley from Fryatt after Campbell had headed a cross his way. Tomlinson also saved smartly at the foot of his post to keep out another powerful drive from Oakley.
Saying that Crewe really should have gone in at the interval ahead. Zola, who was causing Leicester a few problems raced clear following a long ball from Woodards to go one-on-one with Martin - but to be fair to the Foxes keeper he stood up well to make the save. It had been a golden chance to put the Alex ahead.
The second half had Fryatt heading an Oakley cross into the hands of Tomlinson but the Alex always looked capable of a break away and you could sense the frustration coming from the home support as they struggled to break us down.
Bailey nearly slipped Zola in again but Martin read the situation and smothered his through ball and that prompted Nigel Pearson into a double substitution. Campbell made way for Howard and the previous Crewe tormentor Maxi Gradel replaced captain Oakley.
With an hour of the game played out, Crewe were hardly been flustered with the centre-backs O'Donnell and Baudet clearing their lines effectively and Leicester's promising breaks into our half usually grounding to a halt due to a stray pass or inaccurate cross. An organised Crewe side, with Lunt sitting in front of the back four looked reasonably comfortable.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, Donaldson replaced a tiring Zola, who had ran his socks off for the cause and had scored a fine individualistic goal as well. Moments later, the referee inadvertently set up a Leicester attack by merely getting in the way, and it nearly resulted in Howard heading the home side in front. Tomlinson did well to claw it away from his top corner.
Barely two minutes later, the home side did take the lead and it proved to be third time lucky for King. He rose highest from another corner to head powerfully past Tomlinson. For all their effort and endeavour, it was probably the worst kind of goal to concede via a straight- forward set piece. Leicester were not complaining though because their clear-cut chances had become more infrequent as the half wore on.
With ten minutes remaining, Dario replaced the more defensive minded Woodards with Miller. Woodards had been hobbling for a few minutes after bravely charging down a cross from Gradel.
Crewe again had a penalty appeal waved away by the referee, after Tunchev barged Donaldson over in the penalty area. The centre-back didn't play the ball that was for certain but again the referee wasn't interested even though the Alex players posed the question. You have seen them given.
With just the one goal in it, there was still a wave of caution stemming from the home crowd and Crewe were always in it. A miss hit cross from Gradel nearly caught out Tomlinson in the dying minutes, but in fairness Crewe never really created that real opening to really test David Martin, who didn't have too much to deal with in the second period.
It had been a gallant effort from the Alex all evening and they will certainly be disappointed with the standard or refereeing because the Alex players were around him again at the final whistle.
