Crewe Alex - 0 Grimsby - 0

CREWE finally brought a miserable five-month spell at the foot of the table to an end after grinding out a point in a dour encounter with Grimsby on Tuesday night.

The draw lifted the Railwaymen above Bristol City at the bottom of Division 1 with survival looking less like the impossible dream of a month ago and more like a feasible opportunity.

Neither side showed enough ability to create, let alone convert, many serious chances in a game that lived upto its pre-season billing as least likely fixture to be televised.

The Alex dominated possession in the first half but restricted themselves to speculative strikes from outside the box.

The best chance of the half fell, as expected, to the in-form Rodney Jack, who raced onto a David Wright through ball to lash a shot over the bar from inside the penalty area.

Substitute Mark Rivers pressed his case for a place in the starting line-up when he latched onto Danny Murphy's corner to power a strike towards the top corner, but was denied by an impressive save from Grimsby keeper Aidan Davison.

Crewe blew their best chance of the game on 85 minutes when Phil Charnock blasted over a clear volley from six yards.

But Crewe, unbeaten in their last four away matches, will fancy their chances in the vital six-pointer at Oxford on Saturday.

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