Crewe cut down by Waide winner
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY MACC TOWN .................. 1 CREWE ALEXANDRA .. 0
MACCLESFIELD got their first win of the summer programme, thanks to Waide Fairhurst’s first goal since his latest return.
The striker – in his third spell with the Silkmen - fired in after seven minutes after good work from the impressive Adriano Moke and Matthew Barnes-Homer (right), back at the Moss Rose on trial.
Moke raced past Alex left-back Matt Tootle and once he’d reached the byline, pulled back to Barnes-Homer.
The much-travelled striker, who hit 21 goals in his sole season as a Silkman, laid the ball into Fairhurst’s path and he finished clinically past Alex keeper Ben Garratt.
Crewe’s best chance of the half had already passed by that stage, when Ritchie Branagan – racing out of his area to meet a long ball – misjudged the flight and bounce and handled the ball under pressure from Mathias Pogba.
Had this been a competitive fixture there’s every chance Branagan (right) would have been taking first use of the showers, but referee Joe Simpson did the keeper – and the crowd – a favour by leaving the match at 11 versus 11.
Rather than try a shot at goal from the free kick resulting from Branagan’s rush of blood, Tootle knocked it square to Anthony Grant, whose shot was charged down.
A second Pogba effort cleared Branagan’s bar midway through the half, and the keeper – out to impress after spending last season as Rhys Taylor’s understudy – twice denied Ollie Turton when the midfielder was trying his luck.
Crewe rarely looked like getting back on terms in a disjointed second half, although Branagan was called upon to block at the feet of Vaidane Oliver midway through the second half after Brad Inman’s deflected shot fell kindly for the substitute.
The win could have been more emphatic but Josh Amis fired over for Macc late in the day.
Although Callum Saunders had an even later chance at the other end to salvage a draw for Crewe, he was way off the mark, clearing the crossbar by some distance. MACC: Branagan, Halls, Barrow, Smith, Pilkington, Turnbull, Moke, Lewis, Barnes-Homer, Gonzalez, Fairhurst SUBS: O’Keefe, Rodney, Rowe, Di Silva, Storey, Amis, Cowan