Crewe Alexandra: Railwaymen seal impressive Johnstone's Paint Trophy win at Shrewsbury Town

CREWE manager Steve Davis was all smiles after exciting young striker Max Clayton made a welcome return to the scoresheet to seal an impressive 2-1 victory at Shrewsbury in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

Clayton, aged 18, had gone seven games without a goal, but he confidently drilled home what proved to be the winner at the New Meadow to settle an entertaining second-round tie.

Crewe were already leading thanks to a goal from classy skipper Luke Murphy when Clayton applied the finishing touch to a fine run from Mathias Pogba to double the Railwaymen's advantage 12 minutes into the second half.

An horrendous mistake from goalkeeper Alan Martin quickly allowed Shrewsbury sub Asa Hall to cut the arrears, but Crewe held firm to move a step closer to a potential Wembley appearance in the lower league knockout.

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"Max stuck it away tremendously," said Davis. "I was pleased for him to get a goal as he's been a bit anxious over the last month or so, so it was nice for him to score."

The pace and movement of Clayton, Pogba and Ajay Leitch-Smith constantly troubled Shrewsbury with Crewe's game-plan repeatedly carving open the home defence.

Davis said: "I thought we controlled the first half with our football and caused them some problems with how we set up. I tried to do something different, how it would be a good idea to juggle things about so that's what we did.

"I thought our front players were a constant menace and it took them a while to get to grips with what we were doing before they dropped somebody on to Chuks (Aneke) and matched us up.

"The three in midfield played a bit deeper and got the three in front of them running at them and causing some problems by interchanging positions so I was delighted with that."

Murphy fired Crewe in front in the ninth minute, lifting the rebound high into the net after goalkeeper Joe Anyon could only parry a stinging 20-yard shot from the lively Pogba.

Murphy was then agonisingly close to a second when his clever chip from outside the box was diverted on to the bar by the fingertips of Chris Weale, introduced from the bench when home debutant Anyon limped off injured.

Crewe looked to be cruising through when a strong run from Pogba created the chance for Clayton to drill a shot from 15 yards, but Shrewsbury were quickly handed a 61st-minute lifeline when a 25-yard shot from sub Hall somehow squirmed past red-faced goalkeeper Martin.

Martin then atoned for his error by stopping another long-range drive from Hall with his feet before making an even better save to divert a Jon Taylor shot round his near post.

"At 2-0 up I could see us keeping control of the game and they were getting a little bit desperate for something and their goal was a bit of a gift," added Davis.

"In all fairness to Alan, our defending this season in terms of his performances have been terrific and he had earned us points in the league so I accept that on occasions he's going to make mistakes and that was a glaring mistake, but we defended well and got in a lot of blocks.

"The two centre-halves and the back four were immense and we saw the game out well."

Disappointed Shrewsbury boss Graham Turner was left to lament a poor first-half display from his side as his men came up short against a Crewe team promoted alongside them from League Two last season.

Turner, who turned 65 last week, said: "I thought first half we were sluggish, slow, didn't work hard enough and we conceded a poor goal.

"At least we had a go in the second half, we upped the tempo and played more at the pace we started the season at when we didn't get the results that some of our play deserved.

"But first half – and maybe it's just creeped in during the last two or three home matches – we haven't worked anywhere near as hard or at the tempo that we have to. It was only towards the end of the second half that we gave it a go.

"We imposed ourselves a little bit more on Crewe in that period, but we allowed Crewe to dictate to us in the first half too much.

"To be fair, they've got some good, young players and they moved the ball about well, but we didn't half aid them in that first 45 minutes."