It was not a great ninety minute performance by any means, but I still think we should have taken something from the game.
In terms of the details of the match, there is not much to add to what has been said above.
In the first half I thought we continued where we left off at Barrow and played very well. We had a good tempo, penned Crewe in and there were good opportunities for Morris and Nevitt in particular. However, I think we had to score in that period as we were never likely to maintain that intensity for the whole game, and we were then caught with a classic sucker punch. It was a really poor header from Merrie across his own eighteen yard box and, despite the brilliant finish from their lad, the ball has dipped in over Doohan who probably should have done better.
The goal gave Crewe something to cling on to, and given their recent struggles it was no surprise that they sat deep, timewasted and largely succeeded in frustrating us. The second half was a bitty, poor performance, and as you would expect Crewe began to find spaces on the break through Agyei and missed a couple of good chances. However, we had two or three very good opportunities ourselves: Davies' header cleared off the line, a sitter missed by Mumbongo and a two v two involving the strikers which we should have made more of.
I thought Morris and Hemmings were excellent in the first half and I hope the result does not knock the latter's confidence too much. We were probably unfortunate today that none of the really good chances fell to Kane.
The defeat in itself is not a disaster and if you had offered me six points from the three Christmas games beforehand, I would have accepted them. We just have to ensure this result is not the beginning of another mini-slump and win the game against Sutton next Saturday.