- Railwaymen beaten on the road
- Debut for homegrown keeper Booth
- Alex finish the evening 18th in table
Crewe Alexandra slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Grimsby Town on Tuesday night.
Goals in either half from Gavan Holohan and Danilo Orsi sealed all three points for the hosts at Blundell Park.
It was a tale of missed opportunities for The Railwaymen, who looked sharp in attack but could not find the finishing touch.
And it meant a third defeat of the campaign at the hands of The Mariners.
Lee Bell made three changes to the side that lost at Leyton Orient. He handed a debut to homegrown keeper Tom Booth, as Dave Richards dropped to the bench.
Callum Ainley and Elliott Nevitt were recalled to midfield and attack respectively, as Joel Tabiner and Courtney Baker-Richardson were named amongst the subs.
Grimsby, who had picked up four points in the last two home games, threatened on nine minutes but Booth was quick off his line and spread himself wide to make a super block from Harry Clifton.
But shortly afterwards the hosts hit the front when a clever free-kick freed Holohan for a clinical finish from an angle.
Kelvin Mellor fired wide after good work from Christopher Long, as The Alex, who had reverted to 4-2-3-1 after adopting a 4-4-2 shape at the weekend, tried to respond.
Dan Agyei’s looping header from a Tariq Uwakwe cross had to be clawed away from the top corner by keeper Max Crocombe.
Ryan Finnigan made a vital block to deny Grimsby a second just after the half-hour mark, and on 36 minutes a super break from Long teed up Agyei but the Alex hitman didn’t make good contact and his shot was wide.
The deficit remained one into the interval, and it was almost cancelled out straight after the restart when Agyei beat Crocombe to a long ball but couldn’t find a teammate with his pull back.
Evan Khouri blazed over from a good position as Grimsby looked for a second, and Booth stood up to stop a shot from the same player shortly after.
Baker-Richardson, on for Nevitt, nodded over from a corner. And on 66 minutes the sub fed Agyei into a good position but again the effort was off target.
On 74 minutes Rod McDonald’s flicked header from a corner was cleared off the line by a Town defender.
Crewe had been asking all the questions, but the hosts made the same safe on 82 minutes. Clifton stood up a lovely cross from the right and Orsi couldn’t miss with the header.
Long drilled low at Crocombe, and sub Lachlan Brook was denied by the keeper in a one on one as the clock ticked down.
Grimsby (4-3-3): Crocombe; Waterfall, Smith, Glennon, Emmanuel; Holohan (Braithwaite, 76), Hunt, Khouri (O’Neill, 84); Orsi, Khan, Clifton.
Subs not used: Efete, Green, Lloyd, Taylor, Maher.
Booked: Khan.
Crewe (4-2-3-1): Booth; Mellor, Offord, McDonald, Uwakwe; Thomas, Finnigan (Finney, 69); Ainley (Tabiner, 55), Agyei, Long (Brook, 87); Nevitt (Baker-Richardson, 55).
Subs not used: Richards, Griffiths, O’Riordan.
Booked: Mellor,
Referee: Darren Handley.
Attendance: 4,482 (63).