That's Better

A great performance in tonight's game saw Crewe Alexandra boot Barnsley out of the Carling Cup and leaving fans wondering what Saturday was all about!

Two (definite) penalties converted by O'Connor and new boy Elding were enough to take Crewe through to the next round of the competition.

It was a truly great game where not one Alex player played badly, the complete opposite to the opening day of the season against Brighton. Key performances from players like Collis, Grant, O'Connor, Elding and Pope stood out as they clung on to out muscle the Championship side.

Collis was needed on several occasions to make some important saves and commanded his box really well. You could hear the shouts to other players and he would come out and claim the ball all over the area, and he even threw the ball out quickly to put pressure on the Barnsley defence! Who needs Ben Williams!?!

My man of the match today though was defiantly Pope. He worked really hard throughout the match and played some really intelligent football getting balls and passes into the box. The Pope, Elding partnership could be a good one and players like Zola and Miller will find it hard to get into the team if they carry on playing like they did do.

Both penalties were well taken and even though the keeper got a hand to O'Connor's he never stood a chance.

In the second half Crewe were mostly pinned back into their own half, and absorbed the pressure well with Jones and Woodards doing a lot of work down the flanks. Everytime the ball broke forward though there always looked like a possibility of making it 3-0 on the counter attack.

One things for sure though, if Holland puts the same team out against Carlisle then we have a really good chance of getting the 3 points.

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