THE trapdoor to League Two is creaking ominously after Crewe failed to make the most of League One's worst travellers.

On a night when the message was clearly stated beforehand that games needed to be raised by all involved it all fell horribly flat, allowing Richie Wellens' beleaguered basement strugglers to even contemplate a victory that would really have rubbed it in.

As it was the visitors settled for a draw which ended their run of eight straight away defeats.

That Wellens was angered by his players' timewasting to preserve the point in the closing stages only adds insult to injury for Crewe, who just weren't good enough in all departments to close out a much-needed win.

With just one in the last nine games realistically they may need to win nearly half of their remaining fixtures to stay up.

That would be a tall order as at the moment it is hard to say where the next success is coming from. It is the poorest fare to be seen around Gresty Road for four years and Dave Artell faces a massive task.

He made five changes to the side succumbing at the weekend to MK Dons with Dave Richards drafted back in goal, Terrell Thomas and Billy Sass-Davies installed in defence, Scott Kashket out wide and Chris Porter up top.

But Crewe endured a stuttering start losing Chris Long to injury early on, while some of their approach play offered a lot to be desired with a succession of offside flags that could easily have been avoided.

After a less than inspiring opening 20 minutes it was Donny who offered the first threat when Jo Olowu raced forward into acres of space, but the full-back could only waft his effort way over Richards' bar.

Pontus Dahlberg punched Rio Adebisi's cross unconvincingly skyward to offer Crewe a smidgeon of a sight of goal.

From the resulting corner Porter's header was deflected wide and it was from the second flag kick that Crewe made it count.

The ball was floated back in by Lowery and Sass-Davies kept the ball alive at the far post, playing it back for Porter, who had a simple headed finish (33) for his 50th Crewe goal.

But all the good work was undone in the fourth minute of first-half added time when Olowu helped on Ro-Shaun Williams' cross into the far corner past a helpless Richards.

After the break Porter thrashed goalwards but Dahlberg was well placed to beat the ball away.

A badly-executed free kick by Scott Robertson almost proved costly as Donny broke swiftly with Tiago Cukur setting up Ethan Galbraith who was thwarted by Richards with the follow-up driven wide by Joe Dodoo.

Rovers remained a threat in the final half an hour and striker Cukur, edging beyond Sass-Davies onto Tommy Rowe's through ball, skewed a presentable chance wide.

Mikael Mandron was on for Robertson by the 70-minute mark, but the big striker made little headway as Crewe resorted to whacking the ball long.

One carpet move saw Lowery released clear on the right from a training-ground routine, but Dahlberg pushed the midfielder's driven cross out of harm's way.

It was a rare moment of guile on a night of disjointed misery which leaves Crewe deeper in the mire.

Afterwards Artell said: "We were the better team in the first half and we played some good stuff. But the second was a bit of a non-event with two teams who were making sure they didn't lose the game.

"The performance was reflective of where the two teams are in the league. We were whacking the ball at the end and if we'd lost playing like that I'd have been mightily annoyed.

"Billy Sass-Davies was probably our best player. It was a terrific assist for the goal and we certainly valued his contribution tonight."

Donny boss Wellens said: "We were time wasting at the end and we didn't want to, we wanted to win the game. But when you've had more or less all the ball and the chances in the second half there's always that risk you run.

"I thought it was a good energetic away performance. Their keeper has pulled off an unbelievable save from Ethan. Crewe were there to be had in the last 20 minutes."

Crewe: Richards; Sass-Davies, Offord, Thomas; Adebisi, Lowery, Murphy, Robertson (Mandron), Kashket (Bennett); Long (Gomes), Porter.