Having been uplifted by Tuesday's win I'm of course hoping for another victory this afternoon. Crewe are bottom of the league and have conceded almost two goals a game so if we can get an early goal today, I think we should win quite comfortably.
Of course they might well surprise us, as struggling teams often have recently. All being well, O'Nien will be on from the start as he provided us with some much-needed vim after that turgid first-half. It's always great to see his smiling face anyway. Some people have been saying that Defoe is a disappointment but I thought he played a major part in our first two goals the other day. I'll be at the match with my mate from Edinburgh so it'll be interesting to see his reactions. Match prediction: 2-0 to us.
I enjoyed a pre-match beverage in Fizie’s as usual and my fellow bubblers’ match predictions were very positive; 4-0, 4-0, 5-0 and 2-1. The team-news came through and I was pleased to see that both Defoe and O’Nien were starting. I took my seat in the West Stand around 2.50 and with the sunny weather helping I was still positive about us getting the win. We were playing in our blue and yellow strip in sympathy with the people of Ukraine.
We did most of the early pressing but were giving the ball away too much. By the twelfth minute things had gone decidedly flat and some fans were mumbling. Next thing Defoe went down as he ran into the box but the ref Neil Hair was having none of it and another couple of decisions soon went against us arousing the wrath of the crowd, especially when he turned down what seemed to be an obvious corner for us. It was the perfect opportunity for a chorus of, “You’re not fit to referee!” There were ironic cheers when we were actually awarded a corner a minute later. We couldn’t make anything of it and Crewe soon won their first corner. We had the first effort on target in the twenty-fifth minute when Wright, I think, got a decent header in from a free-kick on our left. Gooch was yellow-carded just before the half-hour mark for a foul that you could see coming a mile off. Crewe had coped with our attacks so far without much difficulty and the crowd was getting frustrated. We won our second corner ten minutes from the break but again nothing came of it. My mate observed that both Defoe and O’Nien had hardly touched the ball. Stewart got a good header on target from a Clarke corner so things were going in the right direction at any rate. Crewe had certainly offered little upfront so far. Defoe and Stewart hit the deck in the penalty area but again the ref and linesmen didn’t give anything. Two minutes of added time were announced but nothing of interest happened and it remained 0-0. There was light booing as the whistle went. “That was shocking!” a lad in front of me said, adding, “Was that worse than Tuesday?” No, in my opinion, but it was lacklustre and we’d have to do better in the second period. Oxford and Sheffield Wednesday were both winning so that was bad news for us. I wondered whether we’d see Embleton on very soon. Gooch had created little in the end after some fancy build-up play.
As we kicked off again I was ready to settle for 1-0. We started off badly with too many high hopeful balls going nowhere. The first real item of note was when Stewart went down again in their box but no penalty was given. I was looking forward to seeing a couple of subs coming on when Crewe won a rare corner in the fifty-seventh minute from which a shot went narrowly over. O’Nien and Gooch were replaced by Dajaku and Neil just before the hour-mark so I hoped for improvement. My mate thought Gooch should’ve stayed on. A few minutes later Roberts came on for Defoe, who received a good ripple. Long suddenly found himself in space and bearing down on our goal and it looked like it was going to be 0-1 but he blasted it high and wide. With twenty minutes left we pepped up a bit and Winchester managed an attempt on target while our fans were giving good support. Wright took a booking for the team on the halfway line as Crewe broke and Cirkin got the same for the same on the edge of our box shortly afterwards. We broke very quickly from the ensuing free-kick and Lowery was booked for felling Dajaku. With thirteen minutes to go I still felt we could nick it and when we won a free-kick right on the edge of their box, this feeling grew but the kick was deflected. Crewe had taken a few pages out of Fleetwood’s book on wasting time and were arousing our anger. Evans forced the best save yet out of Richards in goal and next thing a Cirkin header produced another good stop. With six minutes to go we took the lead and it was sub Neil who slammed it home from inside the box just as a number of people around me were heading for home. A good shot from Roberts wasn’t far wide and with another possible good period of stoppage-time there was the chance of another. We didn’t have to wait for stoppage-time before we were 2-0 up and it was Roberts who got it with a low shot from the left of the box. Six minutes of added time were announced and that went down well with most of us. Clarke was booked for diving in their box and that was about that. There was much cheering and applause as the whistle went.
We didn’t play well for the bulk of this match but have another three points and again there was more very good use of subs by Alex Neil.
