• Back-to-back cup success for the Reds
• Clean sheet on the road
• Beth Ragdale and Cerys Griffin help guide the Reds into the next round of the Argyle Cup

Central defender Ragdale and youngster Cerys Griffin were on target to help Crewe Alexandra Women to progress to the next round of the Arygle Cup.

The Alex were without Amanda Fallon who was struggling with a knee injury sustained during last weekend's victory over Salford City Lionesses in The Vitality Women's FA Cup. Head Coach Matt Fisher was also able to rest Club captain Loren Cooper and Beth Grice returned.

With both teams struggling to create any clear-cut chances early on, Grace Duckworth came close halfway through the opening period, but she could only watch her header go just over from six yards out. This gave Crewe Alex Women confidence as they started to apply more pressure on their opponents but the Altrincham stopper remained a spectator.

The visitors did manage to open the scoring late into the first half when powering defender Ragdale managed to guide her header into the top corner of the Altrincham net.

Crewe were keen to come out and impressive in the second half. This caught Altrincham on the back foot and due to ill discipline they were down to nine women as the referee gave out two sin bins at the same time for surrounding the official.

This was Crewe's chance to capitalise with the two extra players and after some good play by Gemma Brough on the right-hand side, she split the defence with a ball through the crowd to Cerys Griffin, and it was 2-0.

The Alex didn't want to settle for two though and went close once more before the referee blow the whistle to confirm Crewe's progress into the next round of the Arygle Cup.

Head Coach, Matt Fisher spoke immediately after the game and said: “All I can say is it’s a win. We weren’t at our best and we know that but we were solid, didn’t get broken down and caused them plenty of issues. We made some changes and that can sometimes have an effect on momentum and fluidity, but everyone worked their socks off and we now move on to the next game.”