Ball Of Confusion

Crewe 3 Torquay 3

Crazy, crazy times. Having come away from the Macclesfield league game eleven days ago thinking that Crewe's strikers looked they couldn't score in a month of Sundays, we've now scored 12 in our last three games. Similarly, after thinking the defence looked a lot more solid compared to previous years, we've now conceded 10 goals in those same three games.
Yesterday was a bit strange all round. I didn't go for my lucky walk - I'd got a mid-morning doctor's appointment and Charlie was visiting a friend so we couldn't fit it in. My usual matchday companion was missing, presumed pissed, at a pool tournament in Great Yarmouth, so I went with another colleague from work and there was a queue stretching back up Gresty Road outside the ticket office at quarter to three. A sight not seen for a few seasons.
And after about fifteen minutes or so, I was fearing the worst. From a corner, Torquay picked out the unmarked Ellis, who powered a header home.  Then from a free-kick Ellis again found himself unmarked to head home number two. Two set pieces and two goals. Looked like our defensive woes were going to continue. However after that, I thought Crewe came back into the game but they weren't really creating any clear cut chances and with Lee Bell having an off day in the middle of the park were struggling to get the passing game going. Still, we got a lifeline just before the break when Torquay defender Branston was judged to have handled the ball and a penalty was awarded. Lee Bell stepped up and compounded his bad day by blasting it on to the bar. Cue general dismay and feeling that it might not be our day. Luckily Donaldson was in the right place to volley home after the ball looped up to him off a defender. Going into the half-time break only one down was better than we could have expected after the early exchanges.
Went for a pint at half time but the queue was so long I gave up as I got the feeling I wouldn't have time to drink it and get back to my seat in time. And that's the first time I've done that too!
Anyway, Crewe came out  fired up n the second half and were looking the better side but still really struggling to create clear-cut chances. And on 67 minutes disaster struck, when Lee Bell brought down Benyon inside the Crewe half and he launched an attack with a quickly-taken free-kick. O'Kane found himself with time and space to pick his spot and Crewe were once again two goals down. Arse!
For once, Dario responded by taking off Donaldson and Grant and bringing on Miller and Leitch-Smith. With those two, especially Miller, running at a tiring defence things started to get a bit stretched. After some clever work down the right the ball came across to Westwood who volleyed it home from about twenty yards or so. A super shot, well worth checking out on the BBC highlights. And then just four minutes later there was a scramble in the penalty area as the ball bobbled around and Branston brought down Leitch-Smith for the referee to award Crewe a second penalty of the afternoon. This time Westwood stepped up and made no mistake to level the scores at three apiece.
With about quarter of an hour to go there was still time for either side to snatch it, but Crewe were making the better chances. Sub Nick Powell put a close range header over and then Murphy did like wise. Mean while up at the other end Blanchett had to make a goal line clearance to prevent Ellis notching a hat-trick. At the end I think the Crewe fans were more pleased with the draw than the Torquay ones. We've criticised Crewe for not being able to close out games from two up, so it was good to see us do that to another side, for a change.
So, it's now nine games unbeaten and raining goals. Trouble is the draws aren't enough to stop us sliding down the table. Would quite happily settle for some boring 1-0 wins right now, to be honest. Next up is Southend away and I won't be making the trek for that one. Well, I'm not planning to, right now, that could change during the week, of course. Think it'll be another tough game and I'll settle for a draw.