Grimly Fiendish

Crewe 1 Lincoln 1
With the play-offs having all but disappeared last weekend at Barnet, this game had little riding on it for Crewe, whatever the boss might have said. Lincoln, on the other hand, were still scrapping for points down amongst the dead men.
In a dire game, in which both sides struggled to create chances, Lincoln's midfield worked hard at closing down the Crewe midfield and the Lincoln front two were constantly pressing the back four, starving them of the time they usually have. Crewe have found it difficult to break down sides that defend in numbers and Saturday was no exception. Joel Grant had Crewe's only shot on target in a dismal first half.  Lincoln weren't creating much either and were mostly shooting from distance. One effort hit the bar but that was about as close as they got.
With my mate Dan having declared that the second half couldn't be any worse, it duly was. After only two minutes Lincoln took the lead. A corner to the back post was hooked back in and a hopefull swing of the leg was enough to divert it in off the post. Thereafter Lincoln reverted to plan A and Crewe huffed and puffed to little effect. Indeed, the lads were fortunate to get back in the game when the referee awarded them a penalty that looked harsh on the Lincoln defender. Donaldson wasn't bothered though as he stepped up to score his 25th goal of the season. With the game level Lincoln looked quite happy with a point and Crewe looked clueless. In marked contrast to the spanking of Cheltenham a fortnight earlier, there was no pace, no snap in the passing and no movement off the ball. It looked like most of the players were already thinking of their summer holidays, to be honest.
The final whistle signalled the end of the remote possibility of reaching the play-offs and that was it. Another season of League 2 football beckons, barring an absolute miracle. With many of the current players likely to move on at the end of the season and a greater reliance on the younglings next year, many fans are already fearing the worst. I'm not, but then I'm sometimes naively optimistic when it comes to the Alex....