League Two
Crewe Alexandra 0
Swindon Town 3
(Kaiyne Woolery, Amine Linganzi, Luke Norris)
Attendance: 3,736
Gresty Road
Back to Gresty Road for the first time since August when the Railwaymen held Newport County to a 1-1 draw.
Since that game I have been two away games and seen us lose twice (away at Coventry and Forest Green Rovers).
The last victory I saw at Gresty Road came on the final day of last season when we demolished Barnet 4-1 with Chris Dagnall grabbing a hat-trick.
To be honest I wasn’t too hopeful for a victory today. Swindon, despite being in a small dip in form are always a tough side to play and I had predicted a loss today with the hope that we would get a result on Boxing Day away at Chesterfield.
This was to be my seventh time watching Swindon with them picking up just one victory in those six previous games. I first saw them in a 0-0 draw at Crewe in January 2008 before seeing them again when they lost to Crewe in December 2008. I witnessed them lose 2-1 at home to Rotherham in May 2014 before returning in January 2016 where they came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 against Crewe. My last game involving Swindon came in a 1-1 draw against Non League Eastleigh in the 2016/17 FA Cup.
My stats watching Town may have suggested that we would get a result, however it wasn’t to be.
I say this every time but I love coming back to Gresty Road. There are so many memories and so many great people to see and catch up with. The Reds are truly my team.
The Ground
To see my comments on the ground, visit my report from the 1-1 draw with Newport in August.
The Game
Swindon Town ended a five game losing streak with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Crewe Alexandra.
The Robins netted three goals in the opening 20 minutes through some dodgy defending and a penalty. Crewe gave a better showing in the second half but it was too little too late as the Railwaymen slumped to their sixth home defeat of the season.
Goals from Kaiyne Woolery, Amine Linganzi and Luke Norris all within the opening 20 minutes sealed the three points and to send the Swindon fans back to Wiltshire with an early Christmas present.
Crewe Alexandra looked bright in the opening minutes of the game, Swindon had to be on their toes to deal with a couple of attacks before going up the other end and taking the lead on eight minutes.
Paul Mullin and Norris combined to give the ball to Keshi Anderson who curled a low shot at goal that had the beating of Ben Garratt before Woolery was quickest to pounce on the loose ball and bundle in.
Chris Dagnall came close for the hosts when Tommy Lowery sent in a cross and the journeyman striker got his bearings in the box and sent his header wide of the mark.
Swindon were looking dangerous and Woolery used his pace to beat the last man and fire a shot at Garratt forcing the former England youth ‘keeper to block the ball away.
Linganzi doubled the lead for the visitors on 17 minutes when a dangerous ball into the box from a free kick landed to the Congo international to nod in from 10 yards. Garratt had come off his line to clear the ball and made a mess, colliding with two of his teammates who all ended up in a heap as the ball went over the line.
It was soon 3-0 when Anderson got the better of Perry Ng inside the area and the full back tripped the Crystal Palace loanee to concede a penalty. Luke Norris stepped up and buried his spot kick into the corner with Garratt going close to getting his fingers to the ball.
Crewe’s best chance of the game came from Zoumana Bakayogo who had found himself in an advanced position inside the area to connect with Ng’s deep cross, however the former Leicester defender got the connection all wrong and his shot went out for a throw in.
Swindon had a chance to make it 4-0 when Woolery used his pace again to carry the ball into the box before being smothered by Garratt who had come off his line to quash the danger.
Bakayogo put a good ball into the area for Dagnall, however travelling ‘keeper Lawrence Vigouroux was brave to stop the chance going in.
The second half started with the Robins smashing the woodwork. The pace of Woolery was causing the Crewe back line all sorts of problems as he carried the ball a good 15 yards into the area before his low drive cannoned off the post and landed to Norris who dragged the rebound shot wide.
David Artell made three changes in four minutes with midfielders Charlie Kirk and Conor Grant replacing George Cooper and Callum Ainley with striker Chris Porter replacing Jordan Bowery. The changes instilled a bit of purpose into the Alex attack, however Swindon were staying compact and holding onto their commanding lead.
Swindon were unlucky again not to score when former Premier League player Matty Taylor curled a well-taken free kick that bounced clean off the crossbar.
Crewe’s best chance of the half fell to Porter who did well to chest down a long ball forward, take on Matt Preston and drill a shot at goal that Vigouroux did well to hold onto.
With the game all but won for Swindon, there was a slight scare to keeping their clean sheet when Taylor headed Kirk’s cross against his own post before the ball was put into touch.
2017/18 Games: 42
2017/18 Grounds: 38 (9)
Total Grounds Visited: 187 (51)
The Terrace Traveller 