Crewe v Hatlepool United ****MATCH PREDICTIONS****

[ChalkDust]

A stern test awaits against Craig Hignett's Monkey Hangers, be nice to see Higgy back at the club and no doubt he will be wanting to get one over us.

I feel we may just nick this one with a 2-1 win goals from Lowe and Dagnall, gate to be around 3,190.

[Essex Railwayman]

For the first time in a while I can say I'm confident leading into a game and I think we will win this game 2-0.. Lowe and Daggers to get the goals

[MiddleOfMainStand]

After what I saw on Saturday I think if we can find a couple of decent balls to the front men we should get a result I'll plumb for 1-0. (providing we don't have the ref from Sat. Inconsistent to say the least).

[Alexandra The Great]

Crewe 2 Monkeyhangers 0
3,084
I've got £3 on us @5/4.

[gazan]

Don't have the confidence that others have! Based on my long and painful experience, we play well against the bigger teams and then are dire against teams where we should expect to get points. Going for 0-0.

Let's give Higgy a great welcome back ! (seriously)

[crewebacca]

3-2 Crewe. Lowe with at least two.

[Jedi Mind]

3-2 to the alex... not felt this optimistic about the alex for years

[Furberstreet]

Crewe 2 Hartlepool 1

[gazan]

So....happy to be wrong again!
However, this was a game we should have won. We were miles better overall and 3-1 was a little kind (albeit Hartlepool played with some verve and elan of their own but not enough to trouble us for the first hour). However, 'Calamity Crewe' appeared and conspired to lose two points. Despite what SD says on the OS, ALL three of their goals could have been avoided. For the first we did our usual thing of giving an opposition player an enormous amount of space on the wing. He then easily sidestepped the the defender who came running back and let loose a cross/shot that was watched (by all!) as it sailed into the top corner. Wonder goal pah! (How many 'wonder goals' can you concede in a season?)

For the other two goals, it was a case of switching off. I like Zooms a lot but he had a terrible game in defence (but still good at getting forward!) and went missing for two of the goals. Does anyone know what the free kick was given for?

However, we still could have won but the normally dependable Ryan Lowe put an easy chance wide of the post.

Despite the points dropped I (and many others) were impressed by the performance on the pitch. (but can someone tell George C than it's impossible to run through solid objects!)

[out0lunch]

Enjoyed the game, obviously disappointed with the result.
I wouldn't entirely agree re Zooms. Although Kiwomya excites and scored and had an assist, his defensive game was poor. Their first goal was by the he should have been marking and by the time he ran back the man cut inside, The 3rd goal was scored by the man who it would appear he was marking
I know he is only young but I think the coaches will be pointing this out to him.