In-form Calvin Zola was in the right place at the right time again to lash home an 86th minute winner at Darlington this evening. The Congolese striker was in the perfect place to convert a touch from sub Anthony Elding after Steven Schumacher had intelligently headed a corner back into a crowded penalty area. It was the towering striker's fourth goal of the season in what has been some start from the former Tranmere man. Last season he mustered just five goals in all competitions.
Zola always looked the most likely match winner again, hitting the bar earlier in the second half with a superb curling effort from the edge of the box.
With captain Billy Jones overcoming a bruised hip and Joel Grant shaking off a kick on his calf, Gudjon Thordarson had the luxury of naming an unchanged team. It was exactly the same from the one that demolished Grimsby at the weekend with a flexible 3-4-3 formation lining up at the impressive Northern Echo Darlington Arena.
The entire travelling squad was the same for the trip north with Under-18 starlet Harry Davis named on the substitutes bench for the third game running.
Crewe Alexandra's two full-backs combined in the opening minutes to create the first effort on goal but John Brayford couldn't direct his volley from a Billy Jones free-kick on target to test David Knight in the Darlington goal.
After ten minutes, the Darlington centre-half Ian Miller just about regained his footage and composure to clear from Calvin Zola from within the six-yard box. Zola had combined well with winger Grant in the build up and Miller nearly got himself in a muddle as the ball got stuck under his boot. He steadied himself to complete the clearance before Zola could pounce.
Backed by a noisy following behind David Button's goal, the Alex certainly spent move of the opening passage of the game in the Darlington half of the pitch, but good progress was often halted with one of our front three straying offside.
After Miller was cautioned for a pull on the shirt of the flying Moore, a quickly taken free-kick from the alert Jones nearly got Grant in behind the Darlington back-line. Only quick reactions from Darlington's keeper Knight prevented the winger from opening the scoring after 18 minutes. Grant didn't catch his shot as well as he would have liked but the Darlington keeper did well to spot the danger in the first place.
Grant then had a shot blocked by a combination of two Darlington defenders after a flowing move involving target man Zola and opposite winger Moore. After breaking the offside trap, Grant cut back inside into the penalty area before having his powerful shot blocked by the boot of Matthew Plummer. It was an encouraging start from the Railwaymen but we needed a true effort on goal for our early efforts in possession.
Darlington's first real attack came on 26 minutes and resulted in the first corner of the match after Mat Mitchel-King stretched to head over a decent cross from right-back Paul Arnison. Crewe's taller contingent dealt with the corner and Moore completed the clearance up to Grant.
Two minutes later and it was Harry Worley's turn to cut out a dangerous cross, this time from David Dowson. Worley had to slide and divert the cross into the side netting but the on-loan defender re-gathered himself to complete the clearance from the resulting corner. Darlington's best passage of play then saw their new loan signing from Middlesbrough Nathan Porritt wastefully shoot over the bar from the edge of the Crewe box.
On 36 minutes, Crewe drew the first real meaningful save of the night. Grant did brilliantly to ride a couple of tackles to retain possession and after providing Verma with a side rule pass in space, the on-loan midfielder from Leicester City saw his drive from 25 yards tipped over by the agile Knight.
Verma must have thought he had opened the scoring just five minutes later after Jones had slid Grant in behind the Darlington back-line. Grant had timed his run to perfection and his intelligent pull back found Verma again with time to pick his spot, only for Miller to throw himself at the shot and divert it wide for another Crewe corner. It was comfortably the most clear-cut chance Crewe had created.
That was only bettered by the next opportunity that fell to Zola via the free running of Grant. The Darlington full-backs had struggled to contain both Crewe's wingers and after Grant had again left Arnison in his wake Zola screwed his cross wide. To be fair to the Congolese striker, a Darlington boot did apply a decisive touch on it because the referee awarded a corner.
Crewe had certainly created the better of the chances in the first half but couldn't convert any of them to make sure we went in at the interval with an advantage.
Darlington made a change at the break with their captain Arnison making way for Rikki Bains. The home side were quickly on the front foot and drew a fine save from David Button in the opening minute of the second period. Darlo striker Lee Thorpe showed good strength before unleashing a powerful shot from 25 yards, that Button had to watch all the way before pushing it behind for a corner.
Thorpe then escaped the clutches of Worley to volley just over the bar as Darlington began to show that they could be a threat going forward because their chances had been few and far between in the first 45 minutes.
Miller was again called into action to block another shot this time from Moore after he had raced onto a long through ball from Jones. Moore was certainly unlucky not to have at least obtained a corner after seeing his shot deflected by the covering Darlington centre half.
On 57 minutes, Darlington made their second substitution of the night with the former Port Vale wide man Jeff Smith replacing Jordan Cook.
A minute later, an in-form Zola came so close to giving Crewe the lead. After accepting a pass from the hard working Verma, the towering Zola showed good feet to curl a shot from 20 yards to leave Knight helpless. Unfortunately, it thudded the cross bar and bounced clear. It was a fantastic effort that possibly deserved a better end result.
After Porritt had dragged a shot just wide of the target, Crewe made their first change with Clayton Donaldson replacing Grant. Darlington also made their last substitution of the evening with Curtis Main coming on for Dowson.
With time running out it really was anyone's game with the ball quickly switching from each penalty area. There were a few feisty tackles going in as well as both teams continued to press looking for the goal that would win it.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Anthony Elding came on for a tiring Moore as Thordarson introduced fresh legs to his forward line.
Elding would play a decisive role in the winner too. He reached Steven Schumacher's headed back into the box to cause mayhem and after touching it over to Zola; the club's leading marksman lashed home his fourth of the season to finally break the deadlock in the 86th minute.
There was still enough time left on the clock for Donaldson and Schumacher to draw Knight into two fine saves in the closing stages - but more importantly with a second successive clean-sheet, Crewe had their second win of the season.
