- Late Thomas and Tabiner goals earn win
- League double over Swindon complete
- Six unbeaten at Mornflake Stadium
Late goals from Conor Thomas and Joel Tabiner earned Crewe Alexandra all three points at the expense of Swindon Town.
The visitors led going into the final stages thanks to a Rushian Hepburn-Murphy strike.
But Thomas slotted his first goal for the club on 82 minutes, and Tabiner steered in a clever volley on 86, to seal a super comeback.
The success completed a league double over Swindon, and made it six unbeaten at home for The Railwaymen.
And Lee Bell's side moved up to 16th in League Two, with two to play.
The Manager made four changes to the side that lost at Grimsby Town in midweek. Charlie Finney, Connor O’Riordan, Tabiner and Courtney Baker-Richardson were recalled to the starting line-up.
Elliott Nevitt, Callum Ainley, and Luke Offord, dropped to the bench, while Tariq Uwakwe was not involved. Rod McDonald captained the side.
Keeper Tom Booth, making his home debut, made a smart save from George McEachren in the first minute.
At the other end, Christopher Long cut inside from the left and whistled a shot wide, and McDonald headed just over after meeting a corner kick.
On 15 minutes, Swindon rattled the bar twice in a couple of seconds. First, Jake Cain’s free-kick crashed off the woodwork, and then Tom Clayton smacked the bar with a volley on the rebound.
Bell switched to a 3-5-2 system after Finney hobbled off and was replaced by Offord midway through the first half.
The best move of the half was constructed by Crewe in the 41st minute, when Kelvin Mellor and Tabiner were involved in creating an opening for Long, but his shot was blocked.
Booth palmed a shot from Hepburn-Murphy wide, but on 44 minutes it was 1-0 after the same player steamed through the middle on a break and fired a shot past Booth, via a deflection.
Crewe started the second half on the front foot. Baker-Richardson didn’t make good contact with an effort after being teed up by Long, and then Long forced a save from keeper Sol Brynn from 25 yards.
Booth parried a powerful strike from sub Tyrese Shade, but the game was petering out to a disappointing conclusion until Thomas intervened.
He was quickest to the loose ball after Brynn had pushed sub Lachlan Brook’s strike and stroked it home calmly, on 82 minutes.
And on 86 minutes, Brook was involved again before fellow subs Zac Williams and Ainley combined to find Tabiner for a superb, acrobatic finish.
Dan Agyei saw a header cleared off the line as Crewe pushed for a third, but the hosts had done enough.
Crewe (4-3-3): Booth; Mellor, O’Riordan (Williams, 70), McDonald, Finney (Offord, 23); Thomas, Tabiner, Finnigan (Brook, 80); Agyei, Long (Nevitt, 80), Baker-Richardson (Ainley, 70).
Subs not used: Richards, Griffiths.
Booked: O’Riordan, Long.
Swindon (4-4-3): Brynn; Hutton, Clayton, Lavinier, Hepburn-Murphy (Shade, 57); McEachran (Darcey, 71), Khan, Cain (Kadji, 81); Murray, Jephcott (Austin, 81), Wakeling.
Subs not used: Brann, Kanu, Brown.
Booked: Minturn.
Referee: R Ricardo.
Attendance: 4,694
