Crewe Alexandra proved this afternoon that they could do the physical stuff when collecting another useful away point on a first ever meet with Stevenage. In truth though it should have been all three after the home side were reduced to ten men just after the hour mark. Tenacious midfielder Stacy Long was shown a red card for two bookable offences for late tackles on Ashley Westwood and Mat Mitchel-King. From that point on there only looked one winner but Crewe couldn't make the extra man and their possession count.

Crewe had cancelled out Yemi Odubade's first half opener through Ashley Westwood, who started and finished a wonderful move on 55 minutes. Crewe looked the more likely side to win it, especially after youngster Nick Powell had been introduced for Shaun Miller. Crewe tried to find a winner but that real genuine chance just failed to materialise.

Dario Gradi made one expected change for Crewe Alexandra's first ever visit to Stevenage's Lamex Stadium with striker Calvin Zola returning to the starting line-up. Winger Joel Grant was sacrificed as the boss went with extra height.Youngster Nick Powell returned to the substitutes' bench after recently enjoying success with the England Under-17s.

Mat Mitchel-King continued at right-back with Matt Tootle missing the trip south due to his hamstring strain. After the officials decided that there was a colour clash with the two strips, the Crewe players had to wear Boro's yellow away strip! It didn't take long into the game for the travelling Alex supporters behind Rhys Taylor's goal to give us a chorus of 'Yellows'!

Crewe had to survive an early nervous moment when Charlie Griffin nearly got in behind the Alex back four but some good covering from left back Danny Blanchett averted the danger.

After settling down in bright conditions it took Crewe 10 minutes to register their first meaningful attack when Clayton Donaldson broke clear after racing onto a header forward from Luke Murphy. Donaldson was certainly ahead of full-back Scott Laird and looked to be impeded as he tried to take the bouncing ball in his stride. Referee J. Linington waved away the half-hearted appeals from the Alex players and in truth Donaldson wasn't complaining too much.

Four minutes later, Zola appeared the favourite to latch onto a wonderfully floated ball from Lee Bell but the former Alex youngster Mark Roberts did well to recover ground and clear from the Alex striker.

Crewe also had half a chance on the edge of the Stevenage box after Donaldson had been tripped but Westwood's short option into Murphy quickly broke down on his second touch and perhaps from that position Westwood should have tried to have tested Chris Day instead.

The referee was centre of the attention again on 23 minutes when Westwood was tripped on the edge of the box.The official blew instantly when he should have applied the advantage rule because Miller latched onto the loose ball to curl it perfectly past Day and into the top corner. The Alex players, especially Miller, were understandably aggrieved because he hadn't allowed any of the play to continue before signalling for a foul. From the free-kick, Miller drilled his effort into the wall and then lashed the rebound clear of the crossbar.

Stevenage's Robbie Sinclair was the first to go into the referee's notebook for a lunging tackle into Miller. From the resultant free-kick, Artell and Mat-Mitchel-King made their height count to head back across goal but an ambitious overhead kick from Miller was easily collected by Day.

Crewe were certainly the more threatening side going forward and had controlled the majority of the possession in the opening half an hour of play. When we were forced to defend our box, we were strong in the air and Artell never wasted any time in clearing his lines up field! Although concerned by Stevenage's aerial threat, Crewe looked fairly comfortable at the back.

The visitors did a scare of sorts on 36 minutes though when a lack of communication between Artell and goalkeeper Taylor nearly allowed Yemi Odubade to nip in ahead of them and touch it towards an empty goal. Thankfully, the 'shot' lacked the legs and accuracy to give the home side the lead.

Stevenage then presented Crewe with a gift with just three minutes of the first half remaining. They cheaply gifted possession to Zola 30-yards from goal and he waited until the right moment to release the overlapping Westwood and on the run he drilled his shot into the legs of Day.

A minute later the Alex somehow found themselves behind.After the robust Charlie Griffin had a shot blocked on the edge of the box by Lee Bell, the ball broke invitingly to Stacy Long whose volley thumped the Alex right hand post.Yemi Odubade reacted quickest to the rebound to tap home into an empty net.

It nearly got doubly worse because in stoppage time some more good work from the pacy Odubade down the left hand flank created an opening for Robbie Sinclair, who saw his goal bound effort tipped over the bar by the agile Taylor.

Stevenage started the second half with a half chance from the lively Odubade but he didn't quite geta clean enough touch to Griffin's cross and it was easy enough for the well-placed Taylor. Long was the second player to enter the book for a late tackle on Westwood and it would cost his team-mates later on in the half.

Miller had an early chance to latch onto a splendid ball from Westwood but the ball wouldn't quite drop for him and Roberts was able to recover and clear for a corner. It was close to being the perfect through ball.

That early encouragement lifted the away supporters and the Alex were virtually camped in the Stevenage half of the field. Crewe needed their pressure to turn into genuine chances though.

Ten minutes into the second half it finally did. Westwood started and finished a great move to score his first of goal of the season in superb fashion. He stole possession in the centre circle from Michael Bostwick to launch a swift counter-attack. The ball went through Miller and Donaldson before being returned to Westwood and after taking a touch he curled it beyond the diving Day via a post.

After equalising, the home side were then reduced to ten men after Long caught Mitchel-King with a reckless tackle on 63 minutes. After previously being booked for a foul on Westwood, the referee had no alternative but to show him a red card.

Therefore Miller's lunging tackle on Scott Laird just moments later was rather reckless and silly because it gave the referee the perfect opportunity to even things up. Miller feared the worse but only received a yellow card. He was instantly replaced for Nick Powell by boss Dario Gradi.

The Alex went looking to make that extra man count with Donaldson heading a Mitchel-King cross into the hands of Day. Powell showed a great piece of skill to trick his way past Roberts and fire a shot forward from the edge of the box that was blocked. Moments later, the talented youngster forced Day into a smart save with a stunning shot from 25 yards out. A confident Powell was catching the eye.

Crewe looked the more likely to score the next goal and Zola had a good chance from 8 yards out after Murphy had planted the ball back into the crowded penalty area, but the big man's shot was too close to Day.

Despite being down to ten men, Stevenage still tried to create chances themselves and Odubade headed straight at Taylor after a long throw-in was returned to full-back Laird.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Dario elected to replace Zola with Bryon Moore. Powell's cameo performance continued with a stunning pass through to the fresh legs of Moore and he was tripped by Ronnie Henry, who became the latest Stevenage player to go into the book. Westwood curled his effort a yard or so over the bar.

The Alex fans were then appealing for handball after Murphy had clipped a cross into the Stevenage box. They were adamant that a hand had deflected the midfielder's cross behind for a corner!

Could Crewe find that winner they probably deserved for all their second half play? Moore so nearly reached a wicked cross from Donaldson.

In the last minute and with Crewe desperately chasing the game, Westwood was booked for blocking a quick free-kick purely by accident.

As the match entered stoppage time, Murphy sent Donaldson through but he couldn't quite control his cross and it drifted over Day's crossbar.

Stevenage couldn't live with Powell and the only way they could prevent him doing any more damage was to impede him. Bostwick became the latest Stevenage player to be booked for a trip on the youngster.

The last change of the afternoon fell to Powell but he couldn't quite get his left foot shot on target and Stevenage had held on for a point.