Crewe Alexandra v Bolton Wanderers – A Capital One Win
Article by Alan HoughtonClick here to follow e-Bolton Wanderers on Twitter!
The Alexandra stadium, formerly known as Gresty Road, is perfectly situated around the corner from Crewe Railway station and on that corner is the Royal hotel, serving real ale in the Corner Bar. It’s within spitting distance for those who still have Olympic Champion lungs. A couple of pints of Salop’s Oracle Ale and a good chat with Bolton fans from far and near set up the evening for the Capital One Cup second round match against Crewe Alexandra.
Tickets were overpriced at £17.50, considering they were only playing us. We charged a tenner for our home match against Bury. This showed in the crowd as only 2,600 turned up with over 1,000 from Bolton. We got our money’s worth as this was a cracking cup tie for the neutrals. Dougie Freedman made eight changes bringing in Chris Lester for his debut and Oscar Threlkeld at right back. Hayden White can consider himself unlucky after his display at Brighton. As expected, Crewe went for it from the start and were one up before we had finished our pies. Bradden Inman turned Oscar Threlkeld in the box and curled one past Andy Lonergan. Crewe were on top and could easily have been three or four up in the first half hour but for Andy Lonergan. The referee had to go off after 30 minutes. I think he must have tweaked a muscle keeping up with play. We took the chance to reorganise and came back into it after that. Liam Trotter started to get control in midfield. Liam Feeney finally got some space and crossed for Darren Pratley to head the equaliser. Liam Trotter limped off to be replaced by Neil Danns.
After the break, Bolton tightened up and chances were at a premium. Some credit must go to Oscar Threlkeld who had a nightmare first half but battled on to have a steady second half and extra time. Joe Mason and Chung Yong Lee replaced Conor Wilkinson and Chris Lester and we looked more in control. There was an unfortunate head injury to George Ray and he got a good round of applause from the Bolton fans as he was carried off. After the 4 extra minutes in the first half, we got 8 minutes in the second, during which the match took a couple of turns. First Jermaine Beckford hammered a left foot shot into the net to put us in the lead. Then almost with the last kick of added time, Marcus Haber bundled one in on the far post.
Crewe threw everything they had left at us and Andy Lonergan made a brilliant save, tipping the ball onto the bar. Into the second half of extra time and we didn’t have long to wait for the winner as Jermaine Beckford got on the end of a curling cross from Chung Yong Lee. We started to use our heads and keep possession better and saw out the match to put us into the third round for the first time since our Premier days in 2011. The players came over to the fans for a deserved round of applause at the end of the match.
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Full credit to Crewe for a spirited performance like Bury in the last round but credit to us for winning a difficult match. I’ll take the result as any win is welcome at the moment. Matches against lower league teams in the cup are not easy as they are more than up for it. Just ask Burnley, Leicester, West Ham United and of course Manchester United. You’re on a hiding to nothing. If you win, it’s expected, if you lose then you’re hammered in the press as Louis Van Gaal found out last night. The defence is still a worry as they maintained their two goals a match average. On the plus side, Darren Pratley and Jermaine Beckford now know where the nets are. The last week of the transfer windows looms this week and it looks like we may be a selling club with rumours of offers for Adam Bogdan, Jay Spearing and Mark Davies. We’re in the position of having to listen to any kind of half-decent offer and then it may be the October loan period when we can get replacements in. But onto Leeds and it will be nice to talk to fans of another club in turmoil like us.
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