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Crewe Alexandra took a huge three points this afternoon at the hands of relegation rivals Hereford United with a 2-1 home victory. The Bulls were thankful to Peter Gulacsi throughout, with the Hungarian 'keeper constantly keeping United in the game with a number of top drawer saves. Hereford's resistance was eventually broken when Sam Hewson was red carded and Billy Jones tucked in the resulting penalty. Toumani Diagouraga flicked home to equalise but Jones had the last say when he blasted in from 30 yards late on in front of 5,195 at Gresty Road.
After the postponement of the mid-week trip to Yeovil, Graham Turner's side were given three days extra recovery compared to Crewe. With this in mind, no changes were made to the starting line-up although Michael D'Agostino replaced Andy Williams on the bench. Crewe named costly duo Clayton Donaldson up front with Calvin Zola whilst 'keeper John Ruddy is currently on loan from Everton.
The early stages were scrappy with the wind effecting each team's play but Crewe adapted to this and in the 7th minute went close through Donaldson. Jones sent in a long-throw from the left and Zola cushioned a header down for Donaldson to hit; the former Hibs man was about go off and celebrate but for a superb reaction stop from Gulacsi to push the ball onto the bar. The Liverpool loanee was constantly involved in the first-half, diving to his left to push away a Zola header after a cross from the right. A good block inside the box from Godwin Antwi denied a powerful Jones effort but from the resulting corner, Julian Baudet rose above the Bulls' back-line but his header was saved superbly by the quick reactions of Gulacsi. Gylfi Sigurdsson looked dangerous throughout in his midfield berth and struck goalwards with his right-foot after turning past Diagouraga but the Icelandic's shot was turned behind by the ever consistent Gulacsi. Towards the end of the half, Baudet again won a header on the Hereford box this time to meet a Sigurdsson corner but he failed to hit the target. Hereford, for all their effort failed to create any opportunities in the first-half.
The hosts started the second half strongly and nearly found themselves in front with an audacious long range effort from former Exeter right-back Danny Woodards. He picked up the ball on the half way line before cleverly beating Hewson with some neat foot work allowing himself to strike on the half-volley from 30 yards; Gulacsi for once stood still, beaten, but luckily the inside of the post came to his rescue. The real turning point of the game came on the 55th minute when Hewson saw red. A corner from the left was swung in dangerously and Daniel O'Donnell won a header at the back-post which was goal-bound and the intervention of Hewson's arm left the referee no option but to send off the Man Utd youngster and award the spot-kick. Jones stepped up confidently to send Gulacsi the wrong way.
It was already looking difficult enough for Hereford to score with 11 men, let alone 10 men and Crewe looked extremely comfortable. In reaction to the dismissal, Ben Smith replaced the ineffective Sam Gwynne. With Smith playing centrally, space developed out wide for Jones to exploit and a switch of play from Zola found him. The left-back then crossed towards the back-post but it fell onto the bar with Gulacsi stranded; the ball fell to Zola following up but the lanky striker smashed over. A free-kick from the left hand side was cleared to Baudet who headed back into the danger area where Donaldson pounced but saw his close-range effort well blocked by Gulacsi. Moments later, the ball again found its way into the Hereford box with Baudet rising to head a Byron Moore cross over.
The Crewe onslaught continued with Sigurdsson turning Diagouraga inside out for the second-time in the game allowing the on loan Reading man to shoot goalwards but again Gulacsi denied him, this time with a superb stretched hand to divert the ball over. From the corner that followed, Donaldson headed unchallenged at the back-post but as proved the case most of the afternoon, Gulacsi blocked. Simon Johnson replaced Febian Brandy, who had been well marshalled throughout as Hereford looked to tighten up the midfield and use the pace on the wings to counter. The chances kept coming for Alex though with Zola guiding a header past the post from a Jones cross and Sigurdsson seeing a 30 yard placed shot held by Gulacsi. Ex Aldershot winger Joel Grant came on for Moore before Hereford finally registered a shot, and more shockingly, equalised. A corner had been forced by Johnson on the right and Matty Done took it. His left foot inswinger was headed back into the danger area by Steve Guinan at the back-post and after a couple of headers, Johnson forced it goalwards where Diagouraga stuck out a leg to divert it past Ruddy. This created a scene of delirium with the travelling army as Hereford had drawn level with their first effort of the game.
Crewe reacted to the goal by immediately replacing O'Donnell with Colin Daniel. With the Bulls' supporters singing their hearts out after the goal, the joy was shortlived as three minutes later, Crewe were back in front. A switch of play found Jones in space on the left, 30 yards out and the goalscorer unleashed an unstoppable long-range effort past Gulacsi at his near-post. After this, there was only going to be one result. Alex pressed for more with Sigurdsson's curling effort from an acute angle on the left held by Gulacsi whilst a pass in behind Kris Taylor allowed John Brayford to cut in and find Zola, who could only balloon his shot from 12 yards. Sigurdsson continued to try his luck from all angles, this time a 20 yard shot went wide before Zola was replaced by Shaun Miller. Four additional minutes were signalled and Hereford forced a late corner but Crewe hung on, comfortably, for a vital three points.
In what was truely a 'six-pointer', Hereford failed to get going and susbsequently were outplayed by their opponents. Had it not been for a man of the match performance from Gulacsi in between the sticks, the score would have been much higher. With Hewson having seen red, he'll now miss the next two matches with Smith likely to deputise for him in central midfield. Crewe looked a very decent side though and should avoid relegation if they play like they did today; their midfielder Sigurdsson looked a cut above the rest and in my opinion, was one of the best players I've seen at this level this season. Next up for Hereford is the visit of Bristol Rovers to Edgar Street on Tuesday; not only is this a big match as United look to pick up points in their quest to avoid relegation, it will also be a chance to gain revenge for the 6-1 drubbing that the Whites received at the Memorial Ground in August.
Hereford: Gulacsi, Jackson, Antwi, Rose, Taylor, Gwynne, Diagouraga, Hewson, Done, Guinan, Brandy.
Subs: Veiga, Broadhurst, Smith, D'Agostino, Smith.
Crewe: Ruddy, O'Donnell, Baudet, McCready, Brayford, Woodards, Sigurdsson, Jones, Moore, Donaldson, Zola.
Subs: Collis, Miller, Schumacher, Grant, Daniel.
