Pre Carlisle Thoughts

A week before the Swansea draw last Saturday Crewe looked on their way down. A 3-0 drubbing from a modest Brighton side saw the Alex at their lowest ebb, a transfer listed Eugen Bopp being the best player summed up the current state of the demoralised Crewe team.

Suddenly within a week a draw with the league leaders and a win away at Leyton Orient and things are looking a whole lot better for the Railwaymen from South Cheshire. Spirit and passion which once seemed banished from the squad are showing signs of creeping in and the Alex are threatening to look like a half decent footballing team.

Steve Holland knows, despite his relief, that he still has much work to do but things are looking a lot more optimistic and the gloom is slowly lifting from over Gresty Road.

I`m personally really looking forward to the game tomorrow, a feeling I thought I`d forgotten after a prolonged spell of coming to games very much more in hope than optimism. I know everything`s not suddenly fine and I don`t expect we will steam roll Carlisle tomorrow and then march on to Leeds.

There is no reason why we can`t take three points from Carlisle tomorrow though; a team that hasn`t won away since October and will surely on arrival remember the 5-1 thrashing we gave them at home last season. Then who knows, onto Elland Road a place where many believe Crewe had their finest hour in Dean Ashton`s last game for the club, a game which after Crewe won sparked our demise from the Championship which we have never recovered from since.

It could be a significant game in the history of the club, it could symbolize a revival in the clubs fortunes, or it could just be a good marker to see where we really stand, as a club with promotion potential, or as a midtable obscurest, or just relegation fodder.

Steve Holland has no ulterior motives at Crewe; his job is to coach the team, promote it and do his utmost to get the best out of the players he has and the ones not that he can bring in, but want to come to the club.

Holland deserves a lot of credit for the last week and all the plaudits the fans can give him, but as another regularly used cliché says, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and tomorrow against Carlisle the Alex fans will certainly not want to be left with a sour taste in their mouths, especially after the last two results