Crewe Alexandra's dismal home record continued this afternoon with our near neighbours Shrewsbury Town winning 3-0 thanks to goals from leading scorer Dave Hibbert and debutant substitute Tom Bradshaw.
It was the Railwaymen's 11th home defeat of the season and it was the same old story, with Crewe having the better of the first half and creating two or three really good chances with Steven Schumacher hitting a post, a fit-again Calvin Zola heading just wide and Clayton Donaldson lobbing a shot onto the top of the netting.
It was building up to be a good performance from the Railwaymen until Hibbert stole a yard on full debutant Carl Martin to head the visitors in front on the half an hour mark.
Crewe's home form is hard to work out because we have been impressive in the majority of our away games this season. The Alex seem to get caught out on the counter-attack too much and it happened twice again this afternoon with substitute Bradshaw netting twice.
Ashley Westwood returned to the starting line-up after serving his three-match suspension following his red card against Notts County. The Crewe-born youngster slotted into a three-man midfield as Dario Gradi switched to a 4-3-3 formation to accommodate a fit-again Calvin Zola. The Congolese striker returned for Shaun Miller, who dropped down to the substitutes bench.
There was another change in the back four with Carl Martin handed his full-debut in place of Danny O'Donnell, who has struggled to train all week due to a tight hamstring.
The match at Gresty Road kicked off in lovely sunshine and Crewe were soon getting hold of the possession and linking up well with the front three. The home side started confidently and Zola should have really forced our former on-loan goalkeeper David Button into his first save of the afternoon after getting his head to a Joel Grant centre - but he directed it just wide of the target. The big striker should have made the goalkeeper work.
Shrewsbury conjured up their first attack of the game on 7 minutes following a forceful run into the Crewe penalty area from the lively Jake Simpson. He drifted past a couple of challenges from Matt Tootle and Steven Schumacher to cross for Jamie Cureton but his shot was deflected wide of the target.
Schumacher was unfortunate not to give Crewe the lead on 11 minutes. The advanced midfielder took a short pass from Westwood before cracking the Shrewsbury post with a well- struck shot from the edge of the Shrewsbury penalty area. It was a great effort from the Alex midfielder that possibly deserved better.
Crewe were getting joy through the pace of their front three. A superb through ball from James Bailey released Zola but, from an acute angle, he could only fire his half volley into the side netting.Donaldson, who was causing problems with his runs into both channels, then curled an effort just over Button's crossbar.
It was the home side looking the most likely to open the scoring. Zola headed another Grant cross a couple of yards wide of the mark before Donaldson went close with an attempted lob over Button. The Crewe number 8 raced onto a superb pass from Schumacher but his lofted effort landed on top of the net. Perhaps with clinical finishing, Crewe could have been two or three goals ahead.
Shrewsbury were a threat on the break though and David Hibbert nearly latched onto a back header from Westwood but Steve Phillips read the situation well to bravely smother the chance ahead of the former Preston and Port Vale hitman.
The warning signs were there though because after Crewe were caught napping in their defensive duties we slipped behind. Shrewsbury broke with real purpose and after they had switched the play to the Crewe left, a Simpson cross found Hibbert at the near post. His flick header on the half an hour mark clipped the post to decisive his former Shrewsbury team-mate Phillips to end his barren spell of 11 games without a goal.
That opening goal gave Shrewsbury a lot more confidence and they began to hit Hibbert a lot more than they had been doing. They forced numerous corners that Crewe defended reasonably well and Phillips was not called into too many saves.
Crewe tried to hit back with Westwood drilling a well struck shot just wide. Westwood's technique to keep the shot down did have Button scrambling across his goal just in case.
Dario Gradi also had to keep an eye on two of his players, who seemed to have picked up knocks in the first half. Bailey was hobbling after kicking the foot of Terry Dunfield. He managed to run it off.
Carl Martin wasn't so lucky after getting a whack on his ankle. He played the remaining few minutes of the first half in midfield before being replaced for the second half by Harry Worley.
Bailey bravely battled on for a few minutes of the second half but was soon replaced by Simon Walton.
Crewe started the second half promisingly again with Donaldson getting a shot in and Westwood having another good effort tipped over by David Button. It was a good effort from the youngster and upped the crowd.
The home side continued to enjoy the better of the possession and Schumacher had three chances blocked on the edge of the box. The ball finally fell to Joel Grant and his drive was brilliantly blocked by full-back Dean Holden.
Crewe were on top but were nearly caught out when Steve Leslie's curling free-kick smacked the crossbar before Cureton hit the post when the ball was returned back into the box. Shrewsbury appealed that the ball had crossed the line but the referee waved away their protests and Crewe had escaped.
Just after the hour mark, Joe Skarz escaped with a yellow card after a shove on Clayton Donaldson as he tried to latch onto a pass from Westwood. The referee discussed the issue with his assistant before showing the Shrewsbury just a yellow card. It was probably the right decision because captain Graham Coughlan was covering. Westwood fired the free-kick wastefully over.
The 20-year-old Westwood went on a personal mission and had two more shots blocked as we continued to knock on the Shrewsbury door. To be fair, the Shrews stood tall and defended well and Crewe began to rue those missed chances.
To freshen things up Paul Simpson introduced Tom Bradshaw for Cureton. Crewe did likewise with Miller coming on for Grant.
On 84 minutes, Crewe were again punished on the counter-attack. A Westwood free-kick sailed into the hands of Button and his quick throw had the Shrews on the front foot. The ball found Bradshaw and the youngster didn't think twice before unleashing an unstoppable shot past Phillips. It was a wonderful execution and was such a sucker punch for the Railwaymen. Bradshaw has been promoted from Shrewsbury's Academy and looks a young player with great promise.
It was a killer second goal and although Crewe huffed and puffed for the remaining few minutes, the closet we got to a goal was a late turn and shot from substitute Miller.
In the final minute, Shrewsbury virtually repeated their second goal with a swift break. Another of their subs Ben Van Den Broek crossed low for Bradshaw to tap home a third from within the six-yard box.
