Crewe Alexandra suffered the cruellest of defeats this afternoon after Mallik Wilks struck in injury time to give league leaders Hull City all three points. It was harsh on the Alex who certainly deserved a share of the spoils, certainly on chances created.

The Alex had led through a Chris Porter penalty on 66 minutes but the visitors’ evened things up with a spot kick of their own five minutes later with their substitute Josh Magennis smashing his past Will Jaaskelainen.

It looked like ending in a draw until Wilks was found on the right edge of the box and his shot took a nick off Harry Pickering, struck the far post and left our Finnish goalkeeper absolutely helpless. It was cruel.

David Artell made one change to the Crewe Alexandra side that won 1-0 against Northampton Town in our last fixture.

Midfielder Luke Murphy missed out, so Ryan Wintle was recalled to the starting line-up to face the league leaders.

Luke Offord returned from the hamstring injury sustained against Bristol Rovers back in January to replace youngster Rio Adebisi on the substitutes’ bench.

Crewe made the brighter start of the two sides and applied some early pressure from Donervon Daniels’ long throw-ins and right sided corners but Grant McCann’s Hull City are on the big side and dealt with the early balls entering their box.

On five minutes, Callum Elder caught Tom Lowery and from the free-kick, Crewe conjured up a fine move on the left hand side. Pickering and Ainley were involved initially and Kirk’s centre was flicked goalwards by Dale. He did everything right in trying to direct his downward header but Matt Ingram did exceeding well to push it away. It was a really smart save.

The giant Tom Eaves looped a header into the gloves of Jaaskelainen before he was ruled offside with a diving header moments later.

Some sloppy mistakes crept into our game over a few minutes and that gave Hull City extra incentive in our final third. Hull’s number 10 George Honeyman was busy and creative but the Alex limited their genuine chances on our goal.

After fine hold up play from Porter, the lively Dale whistled a dangerous cross right across the six yard box. Pickering also stole in behind and his low cross was cut out just in front of Ingram.

Ainley and Wintle both shot over from distance before the excellent Dale forced Ingram into a punch away after he drifted off the wing and unleashed.

At the other end of the pitch, Keane Lewis-Potter passed Ainley before shooting a yard out from a central position.

Crewe’s best chance of the first half came in the closing minutes via another free-kick. Pickering floated one into the centre of the Hull box and Beckles had made himself enough space to get his header on it. It was difficult to generate enough power to really force Ingram into another major save and the accomplished goalkeeper held on to it close to his line.

Beckles may have got away with a push in the box at the start of the second half before Kirk forced Ingram into another decent save after he had cut in from the left and shot low. The Hull goalkeeper turned it round the post.

Crewe continued to get themselves in some great positions but just couldn’t quite pick someone else. That final ball was just lacking. Dale shot over from a good position and Pickering had a fierce shot blocked by the face of Alfie Jones.

A fine cross field ball from Lewie Coyle found Keane Lewis-Potter racing in behind at the far post but he couldn’t direct his header on goal.

The deadlock was finally broken on 66 minutes when Ainley and Kirk combined and as the winger lifted the ball over Regan Slater it struck his hand and referee Pollard pointed to the spot. Ingram was dancing on the line to try and put Porter off but the experienced striker had seen it all before and placed his shot perfectly past him.

Hull tried to hit back almost immediately and the lively Honeyman had a curling shot pushed away by Jaaskelainen.

From the resultant corner, the second phase saw Ainley dangle his foot out and Elder went over for the second penalty of the day.  Magennis, who had replaced Eaves just minutes before, stepped up and gave the Alex goalkeeper absolutely no chance of saving it.

That saw an instant change with Murphy on for Ainley. Crewe still pressed looking for a winner and Lancashire looped a header onto the top of the netting before Daniels had a great chance blocked for a corner after a superb one-two with Dale.

Hull introduced Dan Crowley for Honeyman and the former Arsenal youngster paid a key role in the winner. His lovely lay off in the centre of the pitch gave Greg Docherty the time and space to find Wilks on the right hand side and although Kirk had retreated with him to help out his captain, the forward’s deflected effort hit the far post to give Hull all three points to keep their title dream alive. It was awfully cruel on the Alex, who deserved a point for the overall performance.

Crewe Alexandra suffered the cruellest of defeats this afternoon after Mallik Wilks struck in injury time to give league leaders Hull City all three points. It was harsh on the Alex who certainly deserved a share of the spoils, certainly on chances created.

The Alex had led through a Chris Porter penalty on 66 minutes but the visitors’ evened things up with a spot kick of their own five minutes later with their substitute Josh Magennis smashing his past Will Jaaskelainen.

It looked like ending in a draw until Wilks was found on the right edge of the box and his shot took a nick off Harry Pickering, struck the far post and left our Finnish goalkeeper absolutely helpless. It was cruel.

David Artell made one change to the Crewe Alexandra side that won 1-0 against Northampton Town in our last fixture.

Midfielder Luke Murphy missed out, so Ryan Wintle was recalled to the starting line-up to face the league leaders.

Luke Offord returned from the hamstring injury sustained against Bristol Rovers back in January to replace youngster Rio Adebisi on the substitutes’ bench.

Crewe made the brighter start of the two sides and applied some early pressure from Donervon Daniels’ long throw-ins and right sided corners but Grant McCann’s Hull City are on the big side and dealt with the early balls entering their box.

On five minutes, Callum Elder caught Tom Lowery and from the free-kick, Crewe conjured up a fine move on the left hand side. Pickering and Ainley were involved initially and Kirk’s centre was flicked goalwards by Dale. He did everything right in trying to direct his downward header but Matt Ingram did exceeding well to push it away. It was a really smart save.

The giant Tom Eaves looped a header into the gloves of Jaaskelainen before he was ruled offside with a diving header moments later.

Some sloppy mistakes crept into our game over a few minutes and that gave Hull City extra incentive in our final third. Hull’s number 10 George Honeyman was busy and creative but the Alex limited their genuine chances on our goal.

After fine hold up play from Porter, the lively Dale whistled a dangerous cross right across the six yard box. Pickering also stole in behind and his low cross was cut out just in front of Ingram.

Ainley and Wintle both shot over from distance before the excellent Dale forced Ingram into a punch away after he drifted off the wing and unleashed.

At the other end of the pitch, Keane Lewis-Potter passed Ainley before shooting a yard out from a central position.

Crewe’s best chance of the first half came in the closing minutes via another free-kick. Pickering floated one into the centre of the Hull box and Beckles had made himself enough space to get his header on it. It was difficult to generate enough power to really force Ingram into another major save and the accomplished goalkeeper held on to it close to his line.

Beckles may have got away with a push in the box at the start of the second half before Kirk forced Ingram into another decent save after he had cut in from the left and shot low. The Hull goalkeeper turned it round the post.

Crewe continued to get themselves in some great positions but just couldn’t quite pick someone else. That final ball was just lacking. Dale shot over from a good position and Pickering had a fierce shot blocked by the face of Alfie Jones.

A fine cross field ball from Lewie Coyle found Keane Lewis-Potter racing in behind at the far post but he couldn’t direct his header on goal.

The deadlock was finally broken on 66 minutes when Ainley and Kirk combined and as the winger lifted the ball over Regan Slater it struck his hand and referee Pollard pointed to the spot. Ingram was dancing on the line to try and put Porter off but the experienced striker had seen it all before and placed his shot perfectly past him.

Hull tried to hit back almost immediately and the lively Honeyman had a curling shot pushed away by Jaaskelainen.

From the resultant corner, the second phase saw Ainley dangle his foot out and Elder went over for the second penalty of the day.  Magennis, who had replaced Eaves just minutes before, stepped up and gave the Alex goalkeeper absolutely no chance of saving it.

That saw an instant change with Murphy on for Ainley. Crewe still pressed looking for a winner and Lancashire looped a header onto the top of the netting before Daniels had a great chance blocked for a corner after a superb one-two with Dale.

Hull introduced Dan Crowley for Honeyman and the former Arsenal youngster paid a key role in the winner. His lovely lay off in the centre of the pitch gave Greg Docherty the time and space to find Wilks on the right hand side and although Kirk had retreated with him to help out his captain, the forward’s deflected effort hit the far post to give Hull all three points to keep their title dream alive.

It was awfully cruel on the Alex, who deserved a point for the overall performance.

Artell introduced Walker and Evans to try and salvage something from the game but that late chance never fell to us.