Hull Preview

Championship side Hull City provide a tough test for the Alex in the first round of the Carling Cup.

Hull went out of this competition in the second round last season. After beating Tranmere in the first round, they were beaten 3-2 on penalties by Hartlepool after a boring 0-0.

They opened their new season on Saturday rather disappointingly with a 3-2 defeat at home to Plymouth.

Crewe are set to be largely unchanged after beating Brighton at the weekend. Nicky Maynard is the main absentee after breaking his leg on Saturday, and Michael O'Connor is still returning to fitness after a hernia operation. Ryan Lowe is set to miss out again after achilles trouble.

There will probably be only one change, with Tom Pope going straight in for Nicky Maynard.

Possible 11: Ben Williams, Billy Jones, Julien Baudet, Chris McCready, Danny Woodards, Gary Roberts, Neil Cox, Steven Schumacher, Byron Moore, Shaun Miller, Tom Pope.

Home fans will be hoping to see Billy Jones follow up his superb appearance against Brighton with a similar one against Hull.

His crosses and corner will be sure to pose all sorts of problems for the Yorkshire team.

Hull are expected to give new £450,000 signing Wayne Brown his debut. The summer signing arrived from Colchester but missed out on their league game against Plymouth on Saturday due to a hamstring injury. Their newest signing, Henrik Pedersen, is set to miss out though.

Phil Brown is expected to add a mixture of reserve and first team for the game. Steve McPhee and Michael Bridges could both get a run out for the Tigers.

The 38 year old striker has always posed a problem for Crewe and Chris McCready & Julien Baudet will have to be aware of Windass' strength.

Last season, Windass scored one of Bradford's four as they thrashed us 4-0 at Valley Parade before he left for Hull in a £150,000 move.

- Hull last visited on Boxing Day 2005 for a league game. It ended 2-2 with Billy Paynter scoring a 80th minute equaliser for the Tigers.

- The two sides have met 39 times overall. Hull have won 22 of those match, Crewe have won 10 and the other 7 ended in draws.

Betting Odds
Crewe - 6/4
Draw - 23/10
Hull - 11/8

Source: William Hill

Mr P Miller is the man in the middle for Wednesday's match. Miller is assisted by Mr S Castle and Mr P Graham. The fourth official is Mr W D Smallwood. Mr P Miller is in his second season as a Football League official after two seasons in the Conference. This is his first Alex game, he's also never refereed a Hull match.

Crewe 1-1 Hull City ... Penalties!

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