Alex unlucky in defeat at league leaders

Crewe lost by a single goal at league leaders Southend on Saturday. Bilel Mohsni's 74th minute goal put the brave Railwaymen to the sword to give the Shrimpers a slightly fortunate 3 points.

Southend started the livelier of the two sides and threatened the Crewe goal a number of times, with former Stockport County man Liam Dickinson a constant menace. A number of Dickinson efforts narrowly missed the target, and Matt Tootle cleared one off the line as the League Two pace-setters looked for a victory that would keep them top of the division.

But the visitors weren't without chances either in the first half, Greg Pearson heading over an excellent chance after Shaun Miller's accurate cross from the right hand side. Recent form-man Luke Murphy also threatened from range.

But the only goal of the game came with just 16 minutes to go. Carl Martin was rather harshly penalised for a challenge on the edge of the penalty area, and whilst keeper Steve Phillips saved well from the resulting effort, Mohsni was first to react to score his 3rd goal against Crewe this season.

Phillips was booked in the aftermath of the goal for a verbal abuse and push on his captain David Artell and has since been fined for his second offence of the kind this season. Phillips' reaction certainly seemed over-the-top as Artell was not far from getting the ball ahead of Mohsni and on reflection it appears to be a bit of bad fortune that it fell straight to the Southend player.

After that the Alex didn't really threaten and Southend looked the more likely to add a second on the break. In the end the 1-0 scoreline slightly flattered the home side as Crewe probably deserved a share of the spoils.

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