- Railwaymen rise to sixth in table
- Baker-Richardson bags a brace
- Long and Nevitt get on target
Crewe Alexandra recorded their first away win of the season in fine style at Forest Green Rovers.
The Railwaymen trailed 1-0 at the break after Reece Brown gave the hosts the advantage with a goal from a corner.
But Lee Bell’s men were outstanding after the restart and got their reward through Courtney Baker-Richardson (2), Christopher Long and Elliott Nevitt.
The result made it back-to-back league wins for the Alex and has lifted them to sixth in the League Two table.
Bell made one personnel change to the side that beat MK Dons in the last League Two game, with loan man Aaron Rowe making his full league debut and Ryan Cooney dropping to the bench.
But the bigger alteration was to formation, with the Manager switching to 4-3-3. Mickey Demetriou operated at left-back and Rowe joined Long and Baker-Richardson in a three-pronged attack.
Forest Green, for whom ex-Premier League star Troy Deeney started up front, registered the first shot on target through Matty Taylor but it was straight at keeper Harvey Davies.
Conor Thomas saw a strike held by keeper Luke Daniels, and Joel Tabiner had an effort blocked, as the Alex looked to get on the front foot.
Long, too, had a volley deflected over the bar and Connor O’Riordan headed wide from the resultant corner, as the visitors started to ask the questions.
On 33 minutes a super move involving Jack Powell freed Rowe on the left and his cross was met by a towering Baker-Richardson header which hit the underside of the bar and bounced back to the striker, who blasted just over on the rebound.
And two minutes later Rovers hit the front when Crewe failed to clear a corner. Davies made a good stop from Reece Welch but Brown forced it home at the far post.
The Alex put together some eye-catching moves and got into some good positions but failed to truly test Daniels in the first half.
Cooney replaced Rowe at the break as the Alex made a tactical switch, which involved Rio Adebisi pushing into midfield and Long joining Baker-Richardson more centrally.
The Alex levelled on 50 minutes when Long seized on a mistake in the home side’s defence and sped forward before confidently slotting past Daniels.
Adebisi was inches from converting a Long cross before visitors took the lead on the hour mark.
Joel Tabiner’s corner delivery was perfect and Baker-Richardson crashed it home at the near post in convincing style.
It was 3-1 on 69 minutes when the ball fell kindly to Baker-Richardson in the box and he fizzed it into the bottom corner from an angle.
Davies saved a Kyle McAlister shot comfortably before The Railwaymen put the game to bed on 82 minutes.
Long drove to the byline and squared for sub Nevitt who poked it home from close range to make it three for the season.
Forest Green (4-4-2): Daniels; Bernard, Inniss, Welch, Robson; McAllister, Kadji (Dabo, 53), Bunker (Jenks, 72), Brown (Johnson, 54); Deeney (Stevens, 72), Taylor (Omotoye, 72).
Subs not used: Searle, Bendle.
Booked: Deeney, Robson, Bunker, Dabo.
Crewe (4-3-3): Davies; Demetriou, O’Riordan, Offord, Adebisi (Williams, 75); Powell (Lunt, 75), Tabiner, Thomas; Long, Baker-Richardson (Nevitt, 75), Rowe (Cooney, 46).
Subs not used: Booth, Finney.
Booked: Tabiner, Offord, Davies.
Referee: Thomas Parsons.
Attendance: 1,855 (251).