A lacklustre opening 45 minutes allowed The Blades to race into a 2-0 advantage, forcing Lunt and Bell to have strong words with the group during the interval.

The re-group and reshuffle appeared to have worked as substitute Owen Dale halved the deficit with a glancing header midway through the second period, only for the hosts to restore their two-goal advantage straight from the kick-off.

Dale then stole in to head in his second of the game before another sub, Tom Lowery, rifled in a terrific 20-yard strike to level it up at 3-3 with eight minutes left on the clock.

Just as if it had looked like Lunt’s lads had rescued a point, Charlie Kirk lost his man down the wing, allowing the full-back to cut inside and tee up a team-mate to place the ball past a helpless Kieron Harrison into the net to win the game.

The Under 18’s will be aiming to return to winning ways when they travel to Coventry City on Saturday, Jan 16.

Crewe: Harrison, Morgan, Dowsett, Quinn, Neal, Lundstram, Riley (Lowery, 45), Whalley (Dale, 65), Pickering, Kirk (Woodcock, 88), Higham