Crewe had a couple of noticeable absentees in Cerys Griffin and the long-term injures players Megan Booth and Beth Ragdale kept them on the sidelines but were still able to field a strong squad.

 

Cheadle had plenty of possession in the opening 20 minutes and were causing Crewe problems down their right-hand side. Cheadle adopted a 3-5-2 formation and were certainly enjoying the overloads in wide areas. The boss has to make some tactical changes early on and this saw the introduction of Kate Evans. Crewe grew into the game and started asking questions of their own but a combination of good defending by the hosts and bad choices by the Alex meant chances for both teams were few and far between. 

 

Crewe had an injury scare in the first half when goalkeeper Hannah Holloway went down for a long period but she showed her dedication and tenacity by completing the game.

 

The Alex women came out fighting in the second half as Emilia Edwards went close with a chance inside the penalty area and then moments later, Garner struck just wide from distance. Despite this Cheadle would've been happy with their chances at the other end. Holloway was called into action in the 60th minute to produce a superb double save to keep the scores level.

 

Shanice Finbow was also thanked by her teammates for her impressive defensive performance but also starting attacking moves by stepping into midfield with the ball. As the game started to get nearer to full-time, Cheadle began slowing down the pace of the match with regular injury breaks. The game was starting to feel very stop start and with a draw no good for either team Crewe made another couple of changes with Abbie Wright and Eve Davenport taking the field.

 

With the game finishing in a close draw and news filtering through that Merseyrail Ladies had been victorious in their game The Alex were aware that their hopes of promotion were gone.

 

Post-match, Head Coach, Matt Fisher said: "The girls did really well today against a tough opposition. It is frustrating when you enjoy the ball so much and struggle to carve out any clear openings but we know we have the quality within the squad to solve this.

 

"We have to say congratulations to Merseyrail, who are worthy champions. Our full focus now turns to development. It really doesn't make a difference where you finish with only the top spot getting promotion, so we will look at our youth players as well as trying out different things to prepare us for next season and beyond."