Time For Action

Crewe 0 Accrington Stanley 0

And lo it came to pass that in the Year of Our Lord 2011 there fell upon Gresty Road a great wailing and gnashing of teeth as neither the Alexandrians of Crewe and the Stanleyians of Accrington could strike the fatal blow and score a goal. The crowd looked upon it and they were mighty vexed. 
It's not unknown for Crewe to be involved in goal-less draws, of course, although they tend not to be too frequent. The last one was almost a year ago at Rotherham but you have to go back to the season before that for the last one at home. A mere 689 days after playing out a goal-less draw with Hartlepool, as they slipped ignominiously out of League One, Crewe notched up another one as lingering hopes of the play-offs all but vanished.
I can't say it was even a particularly inspring 0-0 draw either. Accrington out-muscled the Crewe team and snapped in to win the ball much more often. Both sides were creating chances, but Stanley had the lion's share and will probably feel they ought to have done better with them. They did have a claim for a goal after a McConville shot appeared to have crossed the line but the referee and linesman waved play on. McConville appeared to handle in the build up anyway so, in my eyes, justice was done. After that Stanley, who are on a decent run at the moment, had plenty of chances but either couldn't get it on target or found Taylor in top shot-stopping form.
Perhaps the only good thing to emerge from the night was the re-appearance of Ashley M Westwood at centre-half. A former Alex stalwart, Old Westy (as he's known) had come back to the Alex for a trial and found himself on a deal, then on the bench and thence in to the team. His experience and reading of the game certainly improved the back four. He's probably not a long-term solution (he's 34, which is ancient for a footballer) but he can at least help with the last few games of the season.
The reality is that Crewe now need to win at least six, if not seven of their last eight games. It's not impossible, but it is unlikely. They'll certainly have to come back from Sunday's trip to Hereford with all three points to have any chance. I'm not putting my mortgage on it.