Pickering fires and Red Devils feel heat
CREWE’S end-of-season flourish continued as they picked up a hardfought three points at Crawley.
The visitors were ahead after just four minutes through Perry Ng and although Crawley skipper Jimmy Smith equalised shortly afterwards, the visitors settled it with a goal early in the second half from Harry Pickering.
The Alex have won three of their last four to climb into mid-table and boss David Artell felt they deserved their seventh away win of the campaign.
“We knew it would be tough coming here against a side who like to play, so I’m pleased with the outcome,” said Artell.
“To be honest, we have played better this season and lost but we scored a couple of really good goals, especially the second one from Harry Pickering.
“We’ve had some decent results and it would be nice to finish strongly in front of our home fans against Cheltenham next Saturday and give them some encouragement for the summer.”
For Crawley, it was a disappointing end to their home campaign.
Harry Kewell’s men were in the play-off frame when they beat Lincoln in mid-February but have failed to win in front of their own fans since then.
Kewell said: “Football is a simple game but we didn’t play simple football.
“We kept looking to play magnificent passes and pick out a player who had four opponents around him. Fair play to David’s team.
“They worked hard and took their chances but I felt we could have got something out of the game. We have made progress this season but there’s a lot we can improve on.”
The game got off to an explosive start, with defender Ng applying an excellent close-range finish after Jamie Sterry’s shot had deflected into his path.
But the hosts soon levelled. Lewis Young’s rightwing cross was flicked on by Thomas Verheydt and Smith volleyed in at the far post for his tenth goal of the season. Crewe regained the lead seven minutes after the break. Bowery played Pickering into space and he found the top corner with a rightfooted shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Glenn Morris denied Callum Ainley with a smart stop two minutes later before Crawley rallied and Smith saw his header hit the bar, with substitute Jordan Roberts denied by Ng’s goal-line clearance from his follow-up.
The home side huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser but failed to hit back.