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Blues started the game well, but unlike the home game against Portsmouth, were unable to breach the opposition defence early on. Anyone at the Portsmouth game, however, may well have seen this as a blessing as Blues were forced to continue to push on and attack Crewe. Crewe occasionally did pose a threat on the break, mainly through the impressive and not even fully-fit Dean Ashton.
The break-through for Blues finally did come on the half hour. Martin Grainger swept a magnificent ball cross-field for the recalled Paul Devlin, who attacked the visitors defence. Devlin's driven cross was parried away slightly by Crewe goalkeeper Ademole Bankole, but only to the feet of John who finished well. Although it was what looked like a fairly simple finish into the back of the net, I can't help thinking of the number of strikers who would have made hard work of it over the past 6 years or so. Messrs Horsfield, Adebola and Johnson (Andrew) would certainly not have finished so cool.
Blues deservedly doubled their lead right on the stroke of half-time. Olivier Tebily made one of his characteristic forays forward from defence, and slid a ball through to Geoff Horsfield. Horsfield tricked and dribbled his way into the penalty box, but eventually took a tumble. As the referee contemplated whether to award a penalty or book Horsfield for diving, young Carter made such a decision irrelevant as he dispatched the ball calmy with the inside of his right foot to celebrate his first goal for the club he has supported all his life - no wonder he celebrated so enthusiastically.
After the half time interval, Blues went for the third goal which would effectively end the contest, and it took only 4 minute to arrive. Bryan Hughes floated a ball across goal and Mooney rose at the far post, from his wide left position, and placed a superb header back over Bankole's head - the ball looping into the far corner. That was really game, set and match.
Unfortunately, one or two Blues players appeared to settle for 3-0, and personally, I can't help thinking that Manchester City would have gone on and won such a game 6-0 or 7-0. Consequently Blues became a bit sloppy in areas of the pitch, and lively substitute Jack equalised after 85 minutes, slotting the ball past Nico Vaesen when finding himself through on goal.
A special mention should go to Martin Grainger, who, after a season of discontent and criticism, put in an excellent performance - by far his best of the season. His distribution was magnificient - in partcular his cross-field balls to Devlin, and Blues fans will be parying for 5 more performances of similar quality from here on in from Grainger.
There was never really much doubting the result once Blues had got their noses in front, although Crewe's late goal did take the gloss off the result somewhat.
Unfortunately for Crewe, this result makes their chances of survival look particularly grim. It will be a sad day if Crewe go down this season, as they are a good team to watch, and have possibly the most respected figure in the game at the helm in Dario Gradi. Even at 3-0 down, the Railwaymen never resorted to anything other than good passing football, and in this day and age, such an approach is refreshing.
Still, Blues got the 3 points that were vital to our own play-off bid. 4 points now will guarantee us a place, whereas 3, and maybe even 1 could well prove to be enough.
Richard Barker