Crewe Alexandra suffered their fourth successive defeat to the hands of Bury this evening, as the Railwaymen finished the match with nine men after Billy Jones and Patrick Ada were sent off for professional fouls in a 3-2 defeat. The referee left the pitch to a chorus of boos at the end as Crewe's effort and endeavour in the second half should have seen us at least pick up a share of the spoils, but again we shot ourselves in the foot with the goals we conceded.
After Calvin Zola had drawn Crewe level for a second time on 72 minutes it appeared that this ding-dong battle would end in a draw - but with just 5 minutes remaining a mix-up in the Alex defence saw Mat Mitchel-King inadvertently play the ball across the pitch and Bury's captain Stephen Dawson had to be halted in his tracks by our own captain Billy Jones. The referee did not hesitate to show Jones the third red card of his Crewe career, and Dawson kept his nerve to side foot his well-taken spot-kick past debutant goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.
Worse was to follow for the Alex in the closing stages with Ada also red carded, rather harshly it must be said for another professional foul on the impressive Michael Jones. It appeared that the Histon defender had come across his man and had won the ball from the Bury striker.
Red cards and decisions aside, Gudjon Thordarson must be blue in the face of telling his players not to shoot themselves in foot during crucial parts of games.
Following the 5-3 defeat at Accrington Stanley on Friday evening, Gudjon Thordarson made four changes to his Crewe Alexandra side. New loanee goalkeeper Adam Bogdan was handed his Football League debut ahead of Steve Collis. Bogdan was granted clearance from the FA Premier League to participate in this evening's game against Bury.
Patrick Ada returned to the starting line-up after being left out on Friday night. He partnered his former Histon team-mate Mat Mitchel-King and Harry Worley in a back three. Danny O'Donnell lost his place in the squad.
Youngsters Luke Murphy and Ashley Westwood were also handed starts with Simon Walton dropping down to the substitutes bench and Steven Schumacher out of the match day squad. A fit-again James Bailey was named as one of the substitutes after missing the last nine matches with a hip complaint. Also returning to the bench was youngster Harry Davis and Ajay Leitch-Smith.
Bury had former Crewe players Efe Sodje and Ryan Lowe in their starting line-up. They received a warm reception from the home supporters on their return to the Alexandra Stadium.
Crewe Alexandra's new goalkeeper Adam Bogdan made an edgy start to the game dropping an early corner from Lowe before recapturing it at the second attempt. In the South Cheshire drizzle it was always going to make things difficult for both sets of players.
Billy Jones sent a 10th minute free-kick over the top of the crossbar before Crewe were caught on a counter attack, resulting in a good save from Bodgan from Michael Jones. He turned swiftly on the edge of the box to get his shot off and the on-loan Bolton stopper did well to push the shot away.
The Crewe youngsters in central midfield were hitting some probing balls forward, getting full-back John Brayford into good positions up the pitch and Joel Grant was always a willing outlet on the left hand side. Calvin Zola saw an effort blocked and loop into the goalkeeper's arms.
The opening goal arrived on 22 minutes and it was another soft goal to concede via a corner. Our former defender Sodje pulled off at the far post to head back across a crowded penalty area and Tom Elliott nodded home past Bogdan. It was such an avoidable goal if we had man marked properly and restricted the former Nigerian defender that much time and space.
Grant did have the ball into the net just minutes later but the goal was ruled off for offside after Miller had flicked on a cross from Westwood.
Zola headed a Brayford cross wide following a cross from Brayford and Miller couldn't get the ball under his spell after some more good wing play from Grant. There was also a strong appeal for a penalty when Brayford looked to be impeded by Tom Newey after he had been found on the run by Westwood. If Brayford had gone down, the referee would surely have had to point to the spot. Was he too honest for his own good?
After some sustained pressure, Crewe finally conjured up an equaliser on 39 minutes when Harry Worley headed home a Jones corner. It was the on-loan Leicester defender's first goal for the club and put us right back into the game.
We were level for a little over a minute. Yet again, we committed defensive suicide. Worley collided with Tom Elliott in the centre circle, and as the ball broke forward, Bogdan raced from his line to try and reach the ball first. If he was brave enough to come, then he just had to make it. After Elliott had beaten him to it, his goal was left exposed and Lowe gratefully guided it home for 2-1. He deserved his goal too, because his intelligent runs behind our back three and full-backs caused us all sorts of problems.
At the beginning of the second half, Crewe needed Ada to divert an early cross away from Baker and Bury continued to dominate the early exchanges. The home side were struggling to get out of our own half and the towering Elliott was unfortunate to see his hooked shot clear the Crewe crossbar.
Two decent chances were then created for Zola. He should at least hit the target after Jones had found him superbly with a cross from the left and then after he had tricked his way past Sodje with a demonstration of strength, his final shot just lacked the power to test Brown.
Crewe were growing in confidence though with Murphy, Brayford and on occasions Ada were arguably our best players in advanced positions. Jones hit a well-stuck shot at Brown after some neat hold up play by Zola and the involved Murphy whistled one over the bar from 25 yards out after drifting off of the wing.
In an attempt to make our possession count in the final third, Thordarson changed it with Moore replacing Miller.
Although Crewe were on top for much of the second half, there were still some nervy moments at the back. Bodgan misjudged a low cross on 71 minutes and was thankful to his covering defender Brayford for getting it from the line. It was heart in the mouth time after the ball slipped underneath his body.
Bury then lost the impressive Lowe due to a foot injury. He was given a standing ovation for his performance. Ironically, just a minute later Crewe finally found that equalising goal.
Brayford was the architect of the goal, using the slippery conditions to perfection. His drilled shot was too hot to handle for Brown and Zola did well to anticipate the chance. He took an absolute age to adjust his feet and lift it over the grounded Bury goalkeeper - but in truth it was a composed finish from the Congoloese striker!
Crewe needed to go on from there and grab a winner. There was a debut for Crewe-born Ajay Leitch-Smith who replaced Grant with 13 minutes left on the clock.
Bury nearly won it following a super shot from Stephen Dawson, who's shot rebounded back off of the foot of the post. Elliott couldn't do anything with the rebound.
Then the real fun and games happened. With just five minutes on the clock, Murphy collected a simple throw-in inside the Bury half, but instead of going forward he went backwards towards his centre-halves. They got themselves in a muddle and in an attempt to solve the problem, Mitchel-king forcefully tried to win the ball but it only deflected invitingly into the path of Dawson. He raced into the penalty only to go down under a challenge from the Alex skipper, who may have got something on the ball. The referee instantly showed him a red card and Dawson tucked away the penalty with aplomb.
With Crewe pressing for yet another equaliser, we were caught on the counter-attack but on this occasion Ada did appear to get a strong contact on the ball as Jones tried to make it into the Crewe penalty area. It looked harsh. With just 9 men it was always going to be tall order to comeback again and Crewe have now skipped to 14th in the table.
