Canyons of Your Mind

Shrewsbury 0 Crewe 1

On reflection, it probably wasn't a good idea to start on the ale at eleven o'clock in the morning, but at least I had the sense not to carry on celebrating Crewe's win when I got back to Nantwich. I wasn't looking forward to returning to work after a 12-day break as it was and a hangover might have persuaded me to give it a miss altogether...
Anyway, I was up and breakfasted reasonably early on Bank Holiday Morning and it was straight on to Fordy's fun bus for a jolly day out. We stopped at the Sports club in Prees, as per last season, and tucked into the ale. I had, over the course of the stop there a pint of Ansells Mild, two pints of Stonehouse Cambrian Gold, a pint of Caledonian Deuchars IPA and a pint of Wood's Triple A. It wasn't just ale, ale and more ale though - I did have a sausage baguette and a bacon bap whilst I was there. It was back on board the bus and off to the ground shortly before 2pm.
Once at the ground I met up with a couple of mates and had time for a handy bottle of Carling before kick-off. Taking my place in the stand I was glad that I'd had the foresight to bring my sunglasses, as the low winter sun penetrated the clouds and shone right into our faces. Even withe sun in our eyes we could see that Crewe were really up for the game. With the midfield controlling the game and the pace of Donaldson, Miller and Grant troubling the Shrewsbury defence, it looked like the Alex were on top. There were occasional worries from Shrewsbury attacks but by and large Ada and Artell had their strikers in their pockets. The most frustrating thing for us Crewe fans was that it looked like the side were going to have one of those days when they couldn't score. I even texted a mate to that effect at half-time.
Having managed to dodge the queue at the tea bar at half-time and slip in for a Carling, a cottage pie and a coffee (the coffee wasn't for me) it was back into the stands for more of the same in the second half. Crewe's forwards kept creating chances and in quick succession both Miller and Donaldson dragged shots wide with only the keeper to beat. Fortunately the goal that they were now threatening arrived in the 67th minute, when Tootle's low cross found an unmarked Miller on the edge of the six-yard box and he sent the keeper the wrong way with a cool finish. He also sent the 680 Crewe fans wild with excitement. Shrewsbury responded by throwing on their substitutes and there were a few hairy moments, including a goal-line clearance by Lee bell as Crewe looked to hold on. In the end though, they were running the clock down with the ball down in the Shrewsbury corner adn looking fairly comfortable and good value for the win.
An excellent result for the lads and a second win of the year and a second clean sheet. Plenty more tough games to come (Wycombe, Torquay and Port Vale in quick succession) but an encouraging start to the year. If the midfield can maintain that sort of control and form and the strikers start putting away their chances, Crewe must have a realistic chance of making the play-offs and even challenging for automatic promotion. After all there's nearly always one side that puts together a great run after Christmas and there's no reason why it shouldn't be the Alex. Please?