In a far cry from the jubilation of Wembley back in May, competitive football was back with Crewe Alexandra last Saturday in the unfamiliar setting of a pre-season League Cup fixture under the sun at Gresty Road.
If an element of support were unsure of how the home side would play unpredictable Hartlepool, an opposition that is undergoing transition under a relatively new coach in Neale Cooper, any doubt was burnt out within 45 minutes as this bold, brash Crewe unit that keeps breaking the boundaries of surprise in this new dawn, swept the North East club to one side.
This was after all, a side from the same division with modest ambitions for the season ahead. Experience has been drafted in at Victoria Park with Steven Howard and Simon Walton whilst the club has also acquired an exciting talent in Middlesbrough’s young winger Jonathon Franks, yet Cooper saw all his pre-season work smashed back to the drawing board with a performance that he called “garbage” and left him furious with his players.
No such fears should be harboured about any possibility of Crewe losing their reputation for quick passing and neat attacking football under their new Steve Davis-imprinted identity; for they were carving Hartlepool open from the early stages once they had secured the ball from its disorganised beginnings. Byron Moore, who vitally signed a new two year deal at the club over the summer, was the main catalyst for the incisive attacks that saw Crewe establish a 2-0 lead by the 15th minute. Clever work down the right saw him interchange with Max Clayton to draw a foul from Peter Hartley and Ashley Westwood’s free-kick was duly flicked in by the improvising Ajay Leitch Smith who will be hoping to build on a promising year by providing a more consistent goal threat.
Moore again breached the back-line for number two, lifting it over for Leitch-Smith who was denied by Flinders, but Mathias Pogba took advantage of a back four distracted by their adamant cries for offside to square the second ball home for Clayton to convert. Hartlepool responded well however, Alan Martin, who looks every inch the able deputy to currently injured Steve Phillips, clawed Steven Howard’s header away terrifically, before holding on to Evan Horwood’s free-kick. Simon Walton then fired over and that was as far as the Hartlepool revival got before Crewe returned to the well of clinical ruthlessness to deliver goals for Pogba, a side footed effort following a superb cross from Moore and another for Clayton, a lightning-quick break away move between him and Moore seeing the young starlet, heir apparent to Nick Powell, finish emphatically past Flinders; 4-0 and half-time was still on the horizon.
At this point, the pre-season optimism that can be such a curse to any supporter would have been touching its maximum level. There looked to be no hangover from May, no issues with the loss of Powell as the new-look front four of Leitch-Smith, Clayton, Moore and Pogba were embedding into full-flow with seamless aplomb and League One opposition were being torn apart with relative ease as Crewe were well on their way to a club record of 20 games unbeaten. Steve Davis is boosting his reputation at a rate of knots Usain Bolt can only dream of reaching and, ahead of the season opener to Notts County on Saturday, he would have done well here to point any Crewe fan back in the direction of level-headed rationality that he exhumes in the dug-out and has been an elaborate trait of the success of him and his young team.
What followed was, perhaps invitingly, a lull in the natural one-sided flow the game was beginning to take on. Spectators were able to cast an eye over the combative nature of midfield signing Abdul Osman alongside Ashley Westwood and even Gregor Robertson at left-back, who had slotted in with a calm influence at left back. There was no evidence of a disruption in the make-up of the squad following a summer in which it has lost a few vital members of the squad and undergone a significant upheaval. All new signings have been adept and further suggestive of Davis’ canny ability in the transfer market which should be added to the young manager’s ever-burgeoning list of talents.
As if to search for negatives, one may have been pointed towards Adam Dugdale, such an integral contributor to the club’s superb promotion of last year’s campaign, who struggled at the back alongside Mark Ellis, who in contrast looked assured and confident. Dugdale would be happy with a clean sheet, but his hesitation nearly drew a goal from Franks in the second half and he looked poor under the high ball. His indecision will provide a just a mere footnote here, but he will be clear of the need for improvement ahead of a step-up in league standard. The visitors threatened again with a cross, the amount of free-headers afforded to Hartlepool throughout would be a concern to Davis and the management team, but Andy Monkhouse could only direct his header against the post while Alan Martin managed to smother Antony Sweeney’s follow-up.
That singular moment was indicative of the torrid afternoon Hartlepool and their visiting fans had to endure in the bright Gresty Road sunshine and they were subjected to more torture towards the end as Pogba, evidently yearning to influence the game from his wide berth, insisted on drifting centrally to trouble Flinders; he first shrugged off a few defenders before firing against the side-netting and then showed the same strength to compose himself in the box in injury time. This time he stabbed home and it would serve as a hopeful advertisement of what is to come in his debut year in the football league following his signing from Wrexham, there will be few defenders able to live with his brute force and physical strength.
The curtain was well and truly down on Crewe’s brave journey into League One that will have to wait another week for its true baptism at home to Keith Curle’s renovated Notts County, but a convincing 5-0 win and League Cup progression would administer no harm to the wave of excitement that Steve Davis’ men are currently experiencing. It was close to a perfect afternoon, even the youth of Brendan Daniels and Oliver Turton were given a chance alongside the short return of Luke Murphy who has been struggling for fitness. Goals are flowing, Clayton and Leitch-Smith, a new partnership displayed the movement and vibrancy that comes with years of playing in tandem, and it is just a shame that supporters have to wait another week before the true test of this extremely promising squad, and its 20 game unbeaten run, comes into effect in League One.
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