Crewe Alexandra enjoyed their biggest win of the season with a comfortable 5-1 win over John Coleman's Accrington Stanley this season. Calvin Zola helped himself to two goals to take his personal tally for the season to 18 goals with his strike partner Clayton Donaldson, Joel Grant and a penalty from Ashley Westwood completed the scoring in glorious sunshine. It was revenge for our 5-3 hammering at the Fraser Eagle Stadium earlier in the season.

With first choice goalkeeper Steve Phillips needing a minor shoulder operation this summer, Dario Gradi handed a chance to his understudy Adam Legzdins. It was the youngsters' first start since a 4-0 win at Cheltenham back in late October.

With Gradi having a mini-injury crisis at centre-half, the boss gave Patrick Ada his first start since that FA Cup defeat to York City in November. Ada did enough as an early substitute at Aldershot to retain his place alongside captain John Brayford. Mat Mitchel-King who suffered mild concussion at Aldershot last weekend was fit enough to take his place on the bench.

That meant a switch of position for the versatile Ashley Westwood. He converted to right-back and Danny Shelley slotted into the midfield four on the right hand side. Shelley had impressed most in the mid-week reserve game against Glenn Hoddle's Academy side.

It took Crewe Alexandra just five minutes to take the lead in bright sunshine. A long searching free-kick from the half-way line by Brayford was met by the towering Zola. His looping header into the air was then returned to him via the chest of Donaldson and Zola dispatched a low shot past Ian Dunbavin.

It was Zola's first goal since his brace against Darlington back in January. It was the perfect start from the Railwaymen and undoubtedly better than the one we made at the Fraser Eagle stadium back in September. On that occasion, we were 2-0 down within the opening five minutes of play.

Crewe looked more of a threat from free-kick and the recalled Ada just couldn't keep his header down after Zola climbed highest to reach a Westwood free-kick.

Legzdins was hardly called into action but was well positioned to collect long-range efforts from our former player John Miles and opposite winger Bobby Grant. The shots were straight down the throat of the former Birmingham City youngster but he was still behind them at his near post.

Brayford looked totally at home at centre-half and he and Ada kept Michael Symes relatively quiet. Westwood was equally comfortable at right-back and hit some superb searching balls for the runs of Donaldson and Grant.

Shelley nearly doubled Crewe's lead on the half an hour mark following some super football. Westwood found Zola with an accurate ball into space and in turn the target man released Shelley inside the penalty area. Shelley dropped his shoulder up against Darran Kempson but saw his low shot blocked on the line by the covering Phil Edwards.

Donaldson was the first player to be booked for persistent fouls and Walton joined him in the book for a reckless trip on Bobby Grant.

Accrington were struggling to create clear cut chances but they did take Crewe by surprise with a short corner but Ada, Brayford and then Murphy managed to clear the lines.

As the first-half drew to a close, Zola had a chance that appeared to be deflected behind for a corner but the assistant awarded a goal kick.

The Accrington boss Coleman made two changes at the interval with Billy Kee and Chris Turner replacing Miles and Luke Joyce.

Five minutes into the second period, Zola had the ball in the net again from a Westwood corner but the goal was ruled out for a foul on Andrew Proctor. Two minutes later and with Shelley getting more involved in the play, his pass into Grant saw his shot blocked by Tom Lees.

Crewe were almost creating openings at will with Donaldson and Grant combining well and Walton working exceeding hard in central midfield. The on-loan midfielder from Plymouth had one of his most influential games today.

Donaldson finally doubled our lead on 62 minutes after some tenacious play from Murphy. He pinched possession before slotting Donaldson through on goal. The Accrington defence couldn't catch him and he coolly lifted over the onrushing Dunbavin. It was a smart finish from the Alex striker, who now has 13 for the season.

After taking a 2-0 lead, Crewe instantly switched off and frustratingly conceded. The Alex defence didn't deal with Dean Windard's cross and it was bundled home through a combination of Kee and John Brayford.

A minute later and it could have been all square, Symes did well to retain possession and occupy Ada and Brayford and his clever lay-off was shot just over by Kee. It was inches to giving Legzdins a real problem.

It really was end-to-end stuff during this stage of the game and on 65 minutes Crewe deservedly extended their lead. Shelley did superbly well to release the pacy Donaldson through again and as he took on the onrushing Dunbavin, the goalkeeper caught him. The better-placed assistant immediately awarded a penalty and as Dunbavin was the last man, he was shown a red card by referee Langford.

There was a longish delay as Accrington Stanley made their substitution and it certainly didn't helper the takers cause when the replacement Dean Bouzanis had to rush back to the dressing room to get his gloves! Finally, he replaced the sacrificial lamb Kempson.

Westwood was the man under pressure and in fairness Bouzanis pulled off a good save only for the rebound to fall invitingly back to the Crewe right-back, who tapped home into an empty net.

Crewe were 3-1 up and a man ahead but had been there before at Morecambe and lost, so the coaching staff didn't allow a drop in concentration. With 20 minutes on the clock, Grant was rather unfortunate to see a wonderful effort come back off of the crossbar after some tidy build up play involving Matt Tootle and Zola. Grant caught it sweet and Bouzanis was beaten only for it to strike the bar and rebound back to the winger. As it came back to him at pace, Grant couldn't quite get enough on it to trouble the new goalkeeper again.

Shelley shot over the bar from 25 yards and had another effort blocked before he made way for Danny Garner in the closing stages.

Walton was trying to get his name on the scoresheet and he saw a powerful shot from the edge of the Accrington Stanley penalty area pushed away to safety by the diving Bouzanis.

A great piece of skill from Zola saw him create a chance for himself out of nothing but his final effort was smuggled off the line by the covering Lees. Donaldson also shot just a couple of yards wide after cutting inside.

On 81 minutes, the Railwaymen finally secured the points after more good work from Donaldson. He chased down defender Winnard and after making his way into the penalty area, he found Grant 8 yards out and he calmly passed it beyond the helpless Bouzanis.

As an attacking force, Accrington didn't create too much to keep Legzdins occupied by Symes did head wide after being given too much space.

In the closing stages the hardworking Donaldson made way for Mat Mitchel-King, who slotted into midfield. Murphy moved out wide.

Zola completed the scoring in the final minute. Gardner did well in the build-up and he found Grant and he in turn found Zola who after drifting passed a couple of challenges before lashing an unstoppable shot past Bouzanis.

Garner was also unlucky not to make it six when his attempted lob hit the wrong side of the netting.