Crewe 0, Oxford 1: Seven defeats on the bounce and rock bottom

By Ryan Parker

23rd Feb 2022 | Local Sport

CREWE Alexandra continued their woeful league form with another toothless attacking display that boosted Oxford's play-off hopes.

The supporters in the Gresty Road End were unusually quiet tonight, demonstrating the growing lack of belief that the Railwaymen can't pull off a great escape. Such a performance like this will have only confirmed what most of the fans are thinking. Crewe are going down.

Of all the concerns arising, possibly the biggest was a huge lack of confidence in front of goal. Any time the Alex had a chance, there was a sense of panic and no composure to be seen. This has sadly been the same story all season.

Attacking statistics make for painful reading. This calendar year in 10 league matches, Crewe have only scored five goals, managing just 26 since the very beginning in August. Mikael Mandron is the top scorer on six goals, Chris Long has five and Porter has four. These figures are not high enough for any side to survive in League One, but the attack can't just be blamed.

The service to them hasn't been good enough and the line-ups have constantly been altered by management throughout the season. It is fair to say that similar patterns are starting to re-emerge from the 15/16 season where Crewe were relegated to League One with 34pts.

David Artell looked an extremely frustrated figure tonight, shouting instructions during a fairly competent second-half.

It was visible that even he was losing faith in efforts to keep this team in the division. Artell said: "I thought we deserved to win the game but we haven't. We tried to play some good stuff and play the right way and another night we get a bit more. It is just that that extra bit of quality and bit of luck to get us a goal. We were a bit unfortunate tonight and it was a bit harsh on us because the lads gave everything." The Match: The Railwaymen started with a more youthful side than their previous encounter vs Wigan Athletic. Travis Johnson replaced Arsenal loan Ryan Alebiosu in right back and Callum Ainley came in for skipper Luke Murphy in central midfield. Oxford started the contest the strongest, firing a number of efforts wide. The divisions top scorers were wasteful in front of goal and were almost made to pay when former U, Dan Agyei hit the ball straight at keeper Jack Stevens following his poor clearance. In the 31st minute, Crewe January signing Tariq Uwakwe was replaced by Josh Lundstram due to an injury. Before the break, U's midfielder Callum Brannagan pulled the ball back for Sam Baldock but he fired over, much to the dissatisfaction of Oxford boss Karl Robinson. Crewe began the second half on top and they thought they had scored in the 55th minute when Oxford failed to deal with an Alex corner. The ball fell to Chris Long but his strike hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced out of the goal. This proved costly as just nine minutes later, awful set-piece defending (again) allowed substitute Ciaron Brown to strike from deep inside the railwaymen's box, giving Dave Richards no chance. David Artell's side then dropped their heads and struggled to carve out any more openings for the rest of the game.

Young forward Connor Salisbury went the closest to equalizing, side-footing the ball wide. It was only a half-chance at best.

After the five minutes of added time ended, a small section of Crewe fans booed. Many had already departed, clearly losing faith in this season. They walked out of Gresty Road with their hands in pockets and heads down facing the floor.

Other Talking Points:

Crewe are now 10pts from safety with a goal difference 19 worse off than AFC Wimbledon.

The Alex have now failed to score in 14 league matches this season.

Black armbands were worn in tribute to the long-serving former chairman John Bowler, who sadly passed away last week.

A Crewe fan travelled all the way from Tenerife, Spain to see his side lose one nil.

Player Ratings:

Richards 6

Johnson 5

Offord 6

O'Riordan 7

Uwakwe 6 (Lundstram 31) (7)

Lowery 7