Originally Posted by
somersetcrewe
It's in our DNA I'm afraid, no other explanation for it. We've been doing it for years, no matter who is at the helm, no matter who is wearing the red (or blue - as it was yesterday!).
Odd thing about it was we probably should have been 1 up in the first 2 minutes, we started well and yet after 3 – bang! – one down!! Another bloody bombshell and it seemed to go through Richards’ hands.
Then slowly we worked our way back into the game and, suddenly, for a spell of about 15-20 minutes, we were untouchable, playing it around nicely and with tempo, leading to 2 excellent goals from Ainley, the first a cracking volley across the goal. He really has got a great first touch. Even before that first goal, there was a situation where the ball was cleared out to him and he volleyed it back into the danger area first time. Excellent technique.
I recall thinking we are so on top we need more than 2 here – and we all know that is never enough! And then half-time came!
Interesting sub on 41 mins by them – Woolery off and Norris on! The fans didn’t like it – “you don’t know what you’re doing!” – and he certainly didn’t look injured. They were booed off at the interval. In fact they had used all 3 subs by the start of the 2nd half – 2 more at HT.
2nd half, what a surprise (not!), they came out all guns blazing! If we weren’t expecting that, then I’m lost for words. And yet 5 mins in, we catch them on the break, Bowery’s shot is parried and somehow, from the narrowest of angles, Wintle slides it in and we are in dreamland. But again, I kept saying we need 2 more to get that 4-goal buffer. I’ve seen it so many times before. You just knew there were more goals to come.
Slowly but surely they started to turn the screw and, I don’t know, with about 15-20 to go, a cross comes in, we fail to deal with it, it comes out to one of theirs and he side-foots it in. I was at Wycombe and just like then, I felt the same here, the omens were not looking good. And sure enough, with 5 to go, they equalise. You just knew it. And then, to top it off, the ref goes back and gives Zooms a red, apparently (I didn’t see it) for some sort of blatant body-check in the build-up.
And of course in between all of that, in fact before the 3rd goal, we lost Richards to injury. Garratt was forced to make 2 smart saves in his first 3 minutes on the pitch. Well, that was it. You didn’t need Mystic Meg to tell you what was going to happen next – and sure enough, in injury time, that bloody Richards bloke pops up with a very neat near-post flick. You just knew it!
And yet, with ELEVEN mins added on, there was still time for us to finally start to throw the kitchen sink at them. And this leads to a collision at a corner – and Raynes comes off worse, helped off with what looked like an arm injury. And we are down to 9.
And yet still we try and their keeper makers a smart save low down with seconds to go. We could, and maybe should, have made it 4-4.
What a game!
What value for money!
What a HUGE disappointment!
A couple of observations – the young lad McKirdy ran his socks off and looks a prospect, and Bowery continues to frustrate but he can at least hold the ball up better than anyone else we have.
And then there’s the time wasting – why do we do it??? What does it achieve?? Richards was doing it in the FIRST half, and eventually got booked for it, and then Garratt gets a yellow too. It was SO blatant, SO painful to watch, do they get taught this stuff? Anyone who knows ANYTHING about Crewe knows we need as many minutes on the pitch as we can get. Ironic that late on when the ball went behind our goal, Garratt ran onto the terrace himself to get the ball. “Oh I see, you’re in a hurry now!” I thought. Time wasting never EVER works, not for us!!!
Sorry about that but at least I feel better now!