- Demetriou makes Crewe debut
- Joel Tabiner's up and running for 23/24 season
- The Alex are defeated for the first time in pre-season
Crewe Alexandra fall to their first defeat in preparation for the 2023/24 season against Lincoln City.
Tabiner's looping shot gave the Reds the lead just after the start of the second half, but Lincoln came from behind to win the game.
Two strikes from Danny Mandriou breaks Crewe’s unbeaten run in pre-season.
The Alex started the game well with small spells of possession, but with the first chance fell for Lincoln. Ben House applied the pressure from the front and he drilled a low ball across the 6-yard box, but Harvey Davies got down well to prevent the danger.
Mandriou tested his luck from a distance just after the midway point of the first half, but the shot was directly at Davies.
Long then managed to pick out a good cross to Matus Holicek, but his shot was deflected wide of the Imps' goal.
Crewe’s attacks were mainly coming from down the right-hand side, with Christopher Long and summer signing Shilow Tracey causing the danger for the Alex.
In the 33rd minute, Long went down unopposed and was quickly replaced by Lewis Billington with Lee Bell taking no risks with the star forward.
Just after the change, Rio Adebisi took a long shot, which was deflected away from Lukas Jensen’s goal and the game remained goalless at the break.
Lincoln started the second half with more of the ball as they tried to break Crewe's solid defence down.
A good break away from the Alex started with Holicek carrying the ball through the middle of the pitch. Just as that attack breaksdown, Tracey manages to get the ball to Tabiner, he finds enough space to shoot from just outside of the box. It takes a slight deflection and loops over Jensen and into the back of the net.
Davies wasn't allowed to rest though as Lasse Sorensen tries to beat the Liverpool loanee at his near post.
The lead didn’t last long though with Mandriou breaking through the middle, avoiding the challenge and firing into the corner from just outside the box.
On 66 minutes, Lee Bell introduced Friday's signing Mickey Demetriou and youngster Owen Lunt.
Lunt made an immediate impact on the game, when his overlapping run down the right allowed him to find Billington, who rolled it just past the target.
Demetriou made an outstanding block to deny House a goalscoring opportunity but from the resulting corner, Crewe failed to clear and Mandriou placed the ball home from close-range.
Towards the end of the game, Crewe looked to find an equaliser as Colkett's free kick from around 25 yards out landed straight into the gloves of Jensen.
With just under 10 minutes to go, Adebisi saw a low driven cross collected and Tabiner had a shot blocked, which looked destined for the corner, but it was headed away from the Lincoln net.
Crewe (4-3-3): Davies; Adebisi, Williams (Lunt 69'), O’Riordan (Demetriou 66’), Colkett (Evans 80'); Offord, Powell, Tabiner; Long (Billington 33’), Holicek, Tracey.
Subs not used: Booth, Kempster-Down, Woodcock, Griffiths, Sass-Davies.
Booked: None.
Lincoln (5-3-2): Jensen; Brown, Jackson, Erhahon, Hackett (Smith 46’); Bishop, Mandriou, O'Connor, House; Sorensen, Roughan.
Subs not used: Gallagher, Wright, Duffy, Benn, Eyoma
Booked: None.
Referee: D.Handley.
Attendance: 1,216 (112).