Alex Morris’ side suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Wigan Athletic this afternoon, with Joe Piggott’s first-half strike deciding the tie.
The Alex started the afternoon above the Latics in sixth spot, but the more experienced Under-23s couldn’t prevent Wigan from leaving Alexandra Park with all three points.
It took until the 25th minute for either keeper to be forced into a save, with Dave Richards pulling off a wonderful point-blank stop to deny Divin Benincime from opening the scoring.
It was Richards, who was again called into action just before the interval as he managed to save Joe Piggott’s initial strike, but the forward reacted quickest to tap home the rebound.
After the break, Crewe introduced Aaron Lomas and Jamie Wrench to try and find an equaliser.
Then it almost came when Regan Griffiths’ deep cross found the head of Conor Heath, who couldn’t direct his header into the corner of Bobby Jones’ net.
As the second half went on the Railwaymen continued to push Wigan back allowing midfielder Josh Lundstram to push forward as his close range effort was tipped behind by Jones.
Alex Morris and the Under-23s will return to action on the 9th of December where they will welcome Hull City.
Crewe
Richards, Johnson, Offord, Jones (Wrench 63’), Lundstram, Sass-Davies, Powell (Lomas 63’), Griffiths, Anene, Ainley and Heath