MORE FIRE NEEDED (From Warrington Guardian)

MORE FIRE NEEDED

Crewe Alex - 0 Watford - 1

IT was a game everybody expected them to lose and with a lazy, lacklustre display Crewe duly obliged.

While most relegation strugglers battle and throw their bodies on the line to pick up vital points, the Alex's dedication to patient, passing football seems a little out of touch.

Speaking after the game manager Dario Gradi defended his side saying the visitors didn't create many more chances than his side.

Even if the excuse was accurate, which is dubious, the simple reason for that was that they didn't have to.

Tommy Mooney's fifth goal in five starts was enough to boost Watford's play-off ambitions and should have put the onus on the Railwaymen to steam forward for an equaliser.

But the blissfully undaunted Alex seemed content to build from the back - an admirable principal which may lead to the club's relegation from the Nationwide elite.

Mooney set the Hornets buzzing with a well-placed strike in the 24th minute after good wing work from the outstanding Nick Wright.

A series of half chances were handed to the home side, the best falling to Mark Rivers five minutes from full-time.

An unusually quiet Danny Murphy played an inch-perfect ball over the top for Rivers, whose attempted nudge around the keeper was blocked and Rodney Jack's follow-up header didn't threaten the goal.

Jack could have changed the shape of the game as early as the fourth minute, but his acrobatic volley from Rivers' cross flew over the bar.

Rivers also had an earlier opportunity, racing into the box and firing just wide of the near post, and Steve Macauley, deputising for Chris Lightfoot, pushed his free header wide from Shaun Smith's corner.

The rest of the game saw Crewe restricted to speculative long range efforts, with Murphy, Jermaine Wright and Mike Newell all chancing their arm.

A recent purple patch in away form will give Crewe limited hope for this weekend's trip to promotion-chasing Ipswich, but future clashes with Bristol, Portsmouth and Huddersfield are more likely to hold the key to their survival.

Alex: Kearton, D Wright, Smith, Macauley, Walton, Charnock, J Wright (Newell 68), Johnson, Jack, Murphy, Rivers.

Watford: Chamberlain, Bazeley, Kennedy, Page, Palmer, Robinson, Whittingham (Ngonge 78), Hyde, Mooney, Bonnot, N Wright (Hazan 92).

Attendance: 5,461

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.