Aint No Sunshine

Rotherham 3 Crewe 1

Well, there certainly ain't no sunshine at the Don Valley Stadium. That's twice I've gone there and twice that it's tipped it down with rain. As per last year I took my Dad, but this year he drove and my cousin and his son came with us. Can't say it was any better a day out though.
With the rain already falling when we set off, it steadily got worse as we got closer to Sheffield. By the time we'd found somewhere to park I was dubious that the game would actually go ahead. Last year, the pitch hadn't looked like it was draining properly and I had little confidence that things would have improved. I was right - there were groundsmen out forking the pitch virtually up to kick off. Their efforts were not in vain though and the game went ahead.
The first half was fairly dismal to be honest. Rotherham had the majority of the possession and the territory but they couldn't really create any clear cut chances. Crewe looked to break forward when they got the chance but with both Miller and Donaldson missing the strike force lacked a cutting edge. With neither side looking likely to score, a draw at half time would have been a fair reflection. Sadly though, Crewe showed their usual vulnerability to crosses, as the Rotherham winger was given enough time to put in a low cross, which found it's way to Fenton, who stabbed it home from close range.
One nil down at half time and playing in terrible conditions, things didn't look good for the Alex. However, they worked hard in the second half, created a few more chances and got back in the game. Just after the hour mark, AJ Leitch-Smith latched on to a through ball from Lee Bell and, despite looking slightly offside, turned inside the defender and rolled home a shot from the edge of the area. Parity and just reward for the work that Crewe had done in the first fifteen minutes of the half.
As the second half wore on both sides had opportunities to add to their tally. For Crewe, Leitch-Smith couldn't hit the target from an acute angle and then Shelley rolled the ball wide when he looked odds-on to score. Up the other end, Newey blasted a free-kick against the Crewe wall and Law sky-ed the rebound. With six minutes to go, disaster struck for Crewe. A long ball upfield was headed on into the Crewe penalty area and with Taylor and Ada both hesitating, Le Fondre nipped in between them to lob the bouncing ball over the keeper's head. Tootle made a desperate attempt at a clearance but the ball had already crossed the line before he hooked it out. Worse was to come. With two minutes to go, Artell attempted to play the ball out down on the touchline, only to be robbed by Taylor who took it into the area and hit an unstoppable shot into the top corner. From playing reasonably well and looking like getting a hard-earned point, the Alex once again shot themselves in the foot. I'm blaming my Dad, of course - I don't think he's seen a Crewe win since that last game of the season against Coventry in 2005. Mind, they have been poor since then, and he only gets to three games a season at most.
Post-match, we had to take a bit of a detour to get back to the car park due to the stewards sending all the away fans out at the opposite side of the ground to where we entered. It was a bit of a ramble over a railway bridge, then a canal bridge and a splash down a wet canal tow path. The good news though was that my Dad decided he wouldn't be going back, so if Crewe play there next season, there's a chance I might see a win!
The upshot of the defeat, combined with last night's results, is that Crewe have slipped out of the play-off positions and are now four points adrift. They do have games in hand on some of the teams above them but with tough games against Gillingham, Stevenage and Bury coming up, I'd rather they had the points, to be honest. Anyway, back to the lucky walk on Saturday morning, hoping it works against a resurgent Gillingham team.