Crewe Alex: Holland's men make hard work of FA Cup win (+PICTURES)

FA Cup first round

Crewe Alexandra 1, Ebbsfleet United 0

by Gwyn Griffiths

IS Steve Holland's first victory in 12 games a potential turning point?

Or was Saturday's laboured FA Cup success just another example of the malaise currently gripping Crewe?

Crewe were in good company on Saturday as there was plenty of evidence of League One rivals being given a hard time by Blue Square Premier opposition.

But were Carlisle (drawing at home to Grays) or Swindon (losing at Histon) as dominated as the Alex were?

They eventually edged past a team who matched skill with physique, and who would have earned at least a replay back at Stonebridge Road if they had possessed a more clinical edge.

Article continues below

Crewe were indebted to Clayton Donaldson's tidy 33rd-minute finish for their progress.

It was the striker's third goal in two games and a rare moment of quality in a poor game watched by just 2,593, including more than 300 from Kent.

The only other time Fleet keeper Lance Cronin was unduly troubled came with 10 minutes left when he held on to an angled free-kick from Billy Jones.

It was that bad. And the end was entirely predictable with Liam Daish's battlers roundly serenaded by the home faithful, of course, after they had given their own players a thorough booing.

But for Holland – who cut a relieved figure after hearing more chants from the stands for him to be sacked – the manner of victory was irrelevant.

His side simply had to emerge victorious and while the way they achieved it will hardly win back the disenchanted supporters, it is still a glimmer of hope in the relative darkness of the past two months.

"It was a bit ugly, but we were in a no-win situation," said the Alex coach, "so we are really pleased to get through, although the performance wasn't good.

"The players don't deliberately under-perform, but it has been a difficult run and a difficult time with everything which is going on.

"They hear the chants from the supporters, they're not immune to it. That's not an excuse for their performance, but it is something they have not had to deal with in the past and it just adds to the pressure of it all."

In fact, Crewe's players looked nervous long before the anti-management chants started and Ebbsfleet went close twice inside the first five minutes.

An overhead kick from Neil Barrett slid past the post and Steve Collis was caught out by Mark Ricketts's long free-kick, which fortunately veered wide.

Leading scorer Tom Pope's exclusion from the starting line-up may have again baffled some.

Holland persisted with the experiment of playing the unpredictable Joel Grant in a free role to try to release the pace of Donaldson, which had been so evident when he scored twice in the previous weekend's league defeat at Huddersfield.

But Grant can be a liability when he plays like he did on Saturday and he was hauled off at the break.

"We used the same system again, but we struggled to get Joel free against their five-man midfield," pointed out Holland.

"When they had the ball he had to be a defender, which isn't playing to his strengths, and also the wingers (Shaun Miller and Byron Moore) weren't doing what we practiced.

"We were hardly a threat at all in the first half – it was a poor performance and the only bright spot was the goal."

That came after Ebbsfleet had firmly maintained their early stranglehold on possession.

Kezie Ibe dragged an effort past the far post and also forced Collis to make an agile palm around his post.

And Daish was convinced his side should have had a penalty when winger George Purcell, shaping to shoot inside the box, may have been clipped by Michael O'Connor.

Collis, far the busier of the two keepers, also saved a low drive from Gash, a skilful target man.

But he couldn't conjure up the finish Donaldson did which stunned the non-leaguers, coming as it did so completely against the run of play.

The former Hibernian player spun on a pass from James Bailey to make room for a rising shot into the top corner.

"That was probably our only attempt on goal in the first half, but it was the important one because it hit the net," said Holland. "There's plenty of work to do with Clayton, but he has got three in two now."

Calvin Zola came on for Grant and Mark Carrington, omitted from the team sheet before Holland realised he was permitted to name seven substitutes in the FA Cup, replaced the ineffective Miller.

There was a marginal improvement, but only just. Bailey wafted one over after bursting clear and O'Connor, who looked ring-rusty on his return from injury, curled a free-kick inches wide.

But there was no flow or tempo to Crewe's play and in the end they appeared happy to just frustrate Ebbsfleet's regular incursions across the halfway line.

Both Gash and James Smith tried their luck with overhead kicks which flew over and while an embarrassing equaliser looked less likely as the game wore on, so did a second for Crewe which would have eased their passage to the second round.

"We went down a different road in the second half and it wasn't easy on the eye," admitted the Crewe coach. "I wouldn't want to get away with playing like that every week, but sometimes needs must.

"Ebbsfleet were organised and competitive and good physically. They pushed us all the way as we knew they would."