Down the Dustpipe

Crewe 2 Stockport 0
A small measure of revenge for the Alex after Stockport County ensured their relegation out of League One a couple of seasons back. Stockport were all but mathematically down anyway but this defeat meant that not even a fluke result on the last day of the season would be enough to save them.
In truth Stockport could have been two goals to the good early doors but former Alex striker Anthony Elding showed the sort of touch in front of goal that had led to his release by the club. He brought the ball down excellently in the middle of the goal but somehow blazed wide from five yards. His team mate Greg Tansey then followed suit, wasting a glorious chance to open the scoring. The Alex recovered from those early scares and were soon creating chances of their own. Shaun Miller hit the near post from an acute angle, then put a free header wide when he looked certain to score, and finally saw the Stockport keeper make a good save. Thereafter it was pretty much even stevens. Both sides worked hard but neither was really offering us a cutting edge and we got to half time with neither set of fans particularly happy that it was goal-less.
The second half wasn't a great deal better, to be honest. Crewe were finding it difficult to break down Stockport's five-man midfield and Stockport lacked a cutting edge up front. In the end it was a bit of a relief when Lee Bell pumped a free-kick into the Stockport area and Goodall headed it past his own keeper. Donaldson added another well-taken goal three minutes later to make it two nil and thereafter Stockport's hearts weren't really in the game and it was fairly comfortable. We saw late debuts for Ollie Turton and Casper Hughes, who will surely be featuring more next season, and Sarcevic got another run out.
The final whistle went and that was it. All over at the Alexandra Stadium for another season. for those fans who only saw the home games, Crewe have had a fantastic season - only Chesterfield and Accrington have secured more points at home.  Sadly the away form post-New Year has been the club's Achilles heel.
There's still the final matter of the game at Bradford next week, and here's hoping they can break the away hoodoo. I'm especially hopeful as it'll be my first away trip for a while.