Alex Morris’ Under-23 side suffer a 3-1 defeat to Ipswich Town.
Max Woodcock’s strike was only a consolation for the Railwaymen, who fought back to make the scores level, only for two late goals for Ipswich to take all the points.
It took six minutes to see the first chance of the game as it fell to Siziba just inside the box as he drags it wide.
After a half-hearted penalty appeal from the away side was waved away by the referee. Crewe started to regain possession again as we entered the halfway mark inside the first half, but they failed to work Bort in the Ipswich goal.
Ipswich continued building towards a goal as Chirewa wiggled his way past Williams and shoot in a congested box seeing his effort deflected and loop up onto the back post. A few moments later, Humphrey’s saw his glanced header force a fantastic reaction save from Booth to keep it level.
After a flurry of chances in quick succession, the first goal of the game came in the 29th minute as the ball fell to Morris, who beat his marker before slotting the ball home from 12 yards.
Crewe defended well in patches of the first half but failed to register a shot on target. At the interval Alex Morris decided to make a change by bringing on Sam Bhatti for Ty Webster.
The second half started with much of the same as Siziba’s shot from outside the area forced a good low save down to Booth’s right as Ipswich continued to look threatening early into the second half.
The 49th minute saw a good corner from Siziba find Armin at the back post unmarked, but his volleyed effort didn’t test Booth. Three minutes later, Chirewa dribbled his way through Crewe’s defence and forced Booth into another good save at his near post from a tight angle.
In the same minute, the only booking of the game came and Tabiner went into the referee’s notebook.
On the hour mark, Ipswich looked to extend their lead leaving gaps for Crewe to get back into the game. Ipswich’s Morris, Alexander and Siziba all produced efforts on goal, but Booth was equal to them all and kept the scoreline at 1-0.
Crewe broke out in the 65th minute and produced a move that saw Owen Lunt slip a pass through to Woodcock, who cut in on his right foot and curled his effort into the back of the net from inside the are. The young Railwaymen were back on level terms.
After the goal Crewe grew more into the game and produced some great moves down the right-hand side. The game was wide open with 20 minutes left on the clock, and chances were created at both ends.
Johnson used any room he had down the right-hand side and began to get balls into the box as Crewe looked for a winner with ten minutes remaining on the clock. However, it was the visitors who took the lead in the 83rd minute. Morris laid it off to Sabiza on the edge of the area before shifting it onto his right and slotting it into the bottom corner.
In the final stage of the game, Humphrey’s saw his free-kick from the edge of the area fly into the top corner.
The Under 23’s now look on to a trip to Vicarage Road to face Watford on the 27th of August.