Darren Purse took
matters into his own hands to provide Blues with the vital breakthrough goal against Crewe
Alexandra in front of the biggest St Andrew's league crowd of the season. Purse (pictured) won a tackle in midfield and then roared forward only to be brought down inside the area after swopping passes with Marcelo. He then got up to score with a spot-kick, to make it four out of four attempts from 12 yards since he took after the responsibility. Andrew Johnson put the result beyond doubt with a second goal for Blues with 12 minutes to go. Blues were dealt a blow by the absence of Horsfield, who has been struck down with a virus, and Adebola. The latter damaged his hamstring in training yesterday so he joined Lazaridis and Sonner who had already been ruled out in the week. It meant that there was a return for Furlong among the Blues substitutes. Crewe decided to keep teenage sensation Ashton on the bench and go with a front two of Hulse and Little. After a ten-minute delay because of traffic congestion the game got under way with Blues attacking the Railway End. They made a decent start with Marcelo getting in on the action by swopping passes with Andrew Johnson deep in Crewe territory and running on goal. As the ball bobbled beneath his feet he could not get in a shot, however, and Walton made a saving tackle that sent the Brazilian- born striker tumbling. Crewe produced an immediate response and should have taken the lead from it. A chip over the top by Lunt dropped nicely for Rivers who had advanced unmarked into the penalty area. There was a clear sight at Bennett's goal for him but eventually he hoisted a shot well over the crossbar. Blues were pressing Crewe in high areas in an attempt to force errors. To Crewe's credit they held firm and when Blues did create an overlap for Eaden on the right they dealt with his cross impressively. O'Connor was loitering at the back post and was ready to nod the ball home only for Foster to appear from nowhere to head it away. Crewe played themselves into trouble when Lunt failed to clear properly and put the ball straight at Marcelo's feet at the edge of the area. He twisted and turned and tried to get through on his own only for Sorvel to make a good covering tackle and halt his progress. Crewe were certainly living dangerously but had an annoying habit of managing to thwart Blues when it mattered at the last moment. Hughes clearly showed the sort of confident mood he is in at the moment when he took a short pass on the angle of the Crewe area and almost conjured a goal from nothing by tricking Lunt and Smith with a double drag-back before curling a left-footer that sailed only just beyond the frame of the goal. As the half drew to a close Blues were almost caught cold by a Crewe counter-attack. Rivers, wide on the left, looked up to see Lunt sprinting down the middle with Michael Johnson in hot pursuit but several yards behind. He played the ball into his team-mate's path and danger loomed for Bennett but Johnson showed great athleticism to catch Lunt in the nick of time and make a sliding challenge that stopped him in his tracks. Half-time: Blues ....................... 0 Crewe ...................... 0 Blues made a change for the second half by replacing O'Connor with McCarthy. Blues forced an early corner and then kept the pressure on Crewe when Hughes dispossessed an opponent as he tried to bring the ball away deep inside his own half. The ball rolled nicely into the path of Andrew Johnson who raced to the line and drove over a cross. Unfortunately for Blues the ball had just too much pace on it for Marcelo to provide the finishing touch in front of an unguarded net. Bankole tried to launch a quick break-away with a long throw but Purse had seen it coming. He intercepted the ball in the centre circle and then, seeing a huge gap in front of him, charged forward to take the attack to Crewe. He laid the ball into Marcelo who held it up and waited before flicking it back to the defender. Suddenly Purse had burst through and a clumsy challenge by Foster brought him crashing to the turf. The referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty and PURSE himself got up to dispatch the kick into the bottom right-hand corner. When the celebrations died down Blues made another substitution, bringing on Gill for the injured Eaden. With 16 minutes left a quite spectacular one-handed save by Bankole denied a powerful Marcelo volley. Then Purse came striding forward from defence again to allow Andrew Johnson to test the goalkeeper. In the 78th minute Andrew Johnson made the game safe for Blues when he dribbled round the defence before firing across Bankole into the bottom corner. |
