Day 131

I made several changes to the team for today’s FA Cup First Round match against Crewe. Olembé returned to the left wing, despite not being fully fit. Sam Smith and Samba Kanouté replaced the injured Koroma and suspended Marques, respectively. Woods stepped in for his first start since signing three weeks ago; Power dropped back to the bench. I also handed spots to Watson, Laurent, and Nutter in the 18-man match squad.

We started the stronger side, pushing into the Crewe penalty area several times in the opening five minutes and twice testing the keeper.

Crewe went close with two quick-fire strikes from close range in the 17th minute. They were starting to assert themselves after our bright start. Shuker was struggling with a few knocks, too. I worried that he wouldn’t make it through the game.

Gowling and Halstead saved Park from blushes just before half time. The left back gave the ball away deep inside our own half, but Gowling was quick to dive in front of Crewe striker Shaun Miller’s shot. With the sting taken out of it, Halstead still needed to react quickly to keep the ball out.

We went in level at the break, although Shuker and Smith perhaps should have scored on the stroke of half time—their shots were too close to the Crewe keeper.

Crewe went ahead in the 55th minute. Tootie played short from the left wing to Moore, who was just inside the box. Moore trapped the ball, turned, and fired a shot low and hard towards goal. Halstead dived to his right and got a hand on the ball, but the goalkeeper could not keep it out. With Olembé and Shuker looking tired, I wondered whether we had the juice to get back in the match.

We threw men forward, desperately seeking an equaliser. We created chances, but it was Crewe’s Patrick Dillon who scored the next goal (in the 59th minute). On the break, Brough crossed low for Nick Powell—who got a toe to the ball, but could do no more thanks to a misunderstanding with Westwood. The ball fell to Dillon, who struck fiercely towards the top corner, catapulting his side to a two-goal lead.

I sent Laurent and Power on for Shuker and Bore, switching to three at the back with Richardson as anchor. It was all or nothing; we had half an hour to turn the game around, in front of Crewe’s fans.

Smith had been terrible; I subbed him out for Russell with ten minutes to go, pushing Laurent up to striker. Russell nearly made an instant impact, heading an Olembé cross just wide on 81 minutes.

Park conceded a penalty on the 88-minute mark. It was never a foul. Dillon calmly converted the spot kick, putting the result beyond doubt. I felt gutted. We didn’t deserve to lose the game, but there I was powerless to stop my boys being knocked out of the FA Cup.

We kept fighting for the last few minutes, and Barnes-Homer missed a golden opportunity for a consolation goal. But 3-0 to Crewe is how it ended. Would the game have gone differently if Marques and Koroma had been available? Maybe, but it’s not worth dwelling on it.