13/01 Crewe 2nd Half

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 13/01/2001

As predicted in many seats in the Pontoon, Coldicott (who had been invisible in a Donovan sort of way) and Gallimore (who didn't look fit, physically or mentally) were replaced by Fostervold and Willems. What we gained with Gallimore going off, we lost with Fostervold coming on.

Grimsby Town 1 Crewe Alexandra 3
13 Jan 2001, Nationwide League Division 1

There was a slight tactical change with Donovan playing out on the right. He saw more of the ball and had one of his "looking dangerous" periods. Town didn't tear into Crewe so much as continue to muddle through. Livvo sliced a shot wide of the 'keeper's left hand post from the edge of the area and, a few minutes later, made Bankole dive low to his left and push the ball away for a corner. Now that was a good save, credit where credit is due. Sandwiched in between these moments Crewe should have had a penalty. For the umpteenth time a ball over the top caught Enhua out. Hulse got behind him and Enhua hauled him down with a rolling maul. Perhaps Town's luck had changed? After 56 minutes it did. Nielsen received a throw in on the Town right twisted, turned and hit a hard low pass across the face of the penalty area to Campbell, just to the left of centre.

Grimsby Town Coyne Butterfield Gallimore Groves Zhang Donovan Burnett Coldicott Campbell Livingstone Nielsen   Subs Fostervold Jeffrey Willems Croudson D Smith

Campbell laid the ball off first time into a big space on the centre right edge of the area and DONOVAN ran in and hit a superb first time drive into the 'keeper's top right hand corner. Unstoppable and a great goal. But even then the Town support didn't believe we'd equalise.

Within a minute or two Crewe should have scored again. Rivers replicated his torture of Gallimore by tricking and outsprinting Fostervold. He raced into the area and pulled a low pass across the face of the goal as Coyne came out to narrow his shooting angle. Groves just got in front of Hulse and produced the most audacious piece of skill you'll ever see. He threw an outrageous dummy to make the ball bounce of Hulse's shins and back to Coyne via a deflection off Butterfield. Or maybe he mis-kicked. Even then Enhua nearly got in the way of Coyne's fly kick.

Then the moment that really killed the game. Just after the hour Crewe had a half hearted attack down the Town centre left. The ball was half stopped and Sorvel was allowed to control the ball on his chest and dink a little pass between Fostervold and Groves. RIVERS ran past Groves and tipped the ball over Coyne and into the right hand side of the net. Yet again the "line" was not held and an opposition player had strolled through the defence. Coyne was a bit slow to come off his line, but the blame lies further out.

I am sorry to say the next half an hour were possibly the slowest 30 minutes ever. Time really did drag, the crowd were not animated, just numb. Possibly contemplating why they came out and paid money. Or comparing this season with the last relegation season. Some frittered away the minutes by watching the boats on the Humber. Some entered into a heated discussion on the colour of the sky. The left of the Pontoon claimed it was pink, the centre thought salmon pink, the ones on the right, after sucking a thoughtful tooth, plumped for mauve. Anyway. It was a lovely sky. Well, you know the old saying "mauve sky in the afternoon, Town heading for doom".

Town attacks? Think hoof. Think disorganised meanderings. Think 8 players in the middle. Willems had a low screaming right foot shot from 20 yards pushed aside by Bankole. Another very good save. And that's about it from Town. A couple of corners and one free kick in Willems range that, unbelievably was taken quickly before our hard footed hero could get near the ball. Crewe broke away sporadically and the back 4 stretched further and further apart across the field, ending up looking like 4 blokes in a field. Enhua got worse and worse. He spent the last 20 minutes trying to play 50 yard passes (intercepted all) or to dribble his way from the edge of our penalty area to theirs. Towards the end that nearly resulted in another Crewe goal when he was dispossessed 30 yards out by 2 Crewe players who, fortunately, fell over. With 10 minutes to go, Fostervold was outpaced by Rivers down the Town left, who crossed low to the far post, about 5 yards out. Jack hared in and smacked a first time shot towards Coyne's left hand corner. Coyne threw himself across the goal and somehow managed to tip the ball onto the underside of the crossbar, with the ball being scrambled away in a very undignified fashion.

With 5 minutes left Jeffrey replaced Burnett to no effect. It is very difficult to know what formation Town went to as there was, in essence, 11 striped shirted men on the pitch in a variety of positions. Jeffrey seemed to be hanging around the left touchline, with Donovan on the right. This suggest it may have been a 4-2-4, or possibly 4-4-2. Does it matter? Whatever it was, it was a mess. At times Town had two players back, which again saw Crewe players run past the centre backs alone, with just Coyne to beat. On one occasion Coyne ran out and hacked the ball away, on another their substitute striker chipped the ball over Coyne and 5 yards wide after Enhua had been caught hand waving.

3 minutes of injury time and, apart from a Jeffrey shot which forced Bankole to touch the ball (for another goal kick), nothing to report. The game ended with the proverbial whimper. A slight boo emanated from those Town fans who hadn't slunk off home, and a few clapped Coyne. The most exciting thing that happened for a Town supporter in the last half an hour was that the referee eventually booked Bankole for time wasting at goal kicks.

The performance was turgid, dire, shapeless, insipid, dreadful, uncommitted and deeply worrying. It had relegation stamped all over it. In the first 20 minutes Town were massively superior - we were almost laughing at Crewe, who looked like a top 10 Division 2 team - like Walsall were last year. The faults that have been endlessly analysed in the last few weeks were all there again. Enhua showed he is a good individual footballer but not a central defender, the two left backs were both donkeys (there is no other way to describe them), Donovan playing behind the front two narrows the options and slows down play - making it so easy to defend against Town. Nielsen, for the first time at home, didn't play with much passion, Livvo is far too slow when he starts a game. The defence was not a unit, looking appalling at the end, the midfield is a waste of time when Town start launching balls up to Livvo's head or for Nielsen to chase.

There were no moments of individual skill to make up for the structural deficiencies, and it increasingly looks like madness to continue to keep R Smith and Handyside out of the first XI. The last 20 minutes was a succession of terrible crosses from Fostervold and Butterfield from 30 yards out - like an inferior Wimbledon. That's not Town. That's relegation.

There are always low points in any season. Perhaps this is the nadir. Let's hope so, otherwise there are some right spankings to come.

NickO's man of the match - Well this is difficult isn't it. Butterfield had a brilliant 20 minutes at the start but a terrible last 20 minutes, so I'll have to plump for Campbell simply because he worked very hard. Yes, it was like that.

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