U's beaten at home by Crewe

4:55pm Saturday 9th March 2013 in Sport By Jonathan Waldron

On target - George Porter scored his first goal for the U's against Crewe. On target - George Porter scored his first goal for the U's against Crewe.

Colchester United's hopes of avoiding relegation were dealt a blow this afternoon when they were beaten 2-1 by Crewe Alexandra, at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Colchester fell behind midway through the first half when Luke Murphy slotted in from the spot, after Josh Thompson had been adjudged to have handled Gregor Robertson's cross into the area.

U's keeper Sam Walker denied Max Clayton before U's boss Joe Dunne made a tactical change just after the half hour, bringing on new loan signing Michael Smith for his debut in place of midfielder David Wright.

Gavin Massey and Billy Clifford both went close and Magnus Okuonhae's header was nodded off the line by Murphy, before the U's equalised three minutes before the breakthrough through George Porter, who turned in the area and slotted in after good work by Smith.

Colchester started the second half well, with keeper Steve Phillips denying Thompson's header just after half-time and Smith firing over, following some dazzling wing play by Porter.

But Colchester fell behind again with 18 minutes to go when Mathias Pogba drove in from close range, following good approach play by Murphy.

And despite putting pressure on Crewe after that, Colchester were unable to find an equaliser.

For a full match report, pictures and reaction to the U's game with Crewe, see Monday's Gazette.

Comments(9)

Boris says...
9:14pm Sat 9 Mar 13

A great pity that Eastman had to go off so early. Also a pity that once again we had a referee who seemed to think it his duty to give the advantage to the visiting side. And if only Smith had been able to control his shot at point-blank range, we could at least have had a point.
Now we have to hope that Eastman was not too badly hurt and that he will be able to play on Tuesday.

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25414nora says...
10:03pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Expected to win today,
some tough games coming up, it's going to be tight to the end.

Cant see us getting anything from Coventry, Dons, Bournemouth,
Oldham, although we do seem to raise our game against the better sides.
'Who knows'?

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Steve86 says...
10:20pm Sat 9 Mar 13

I thought we had a good game, just some stupid decisions by the officials. Can't believe that he didn't give a card to their number 8 (after 3 fouls in a space of 10 minutes) and also other players that kept hand balling it, especially the guy towards the end, who basically hug the ball in his arms in the penalty box. Appalling. But a good strong performance by the U's. strikers on top form would have thrashed this poor Crewe side.

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down the line says...
11:03pm Sat 9 Mar 13

It was definitely a hard luck story today, but we can't afford too many more this season. Hope Eastman isn't out for too long or we could be conceding a lot of goals again.

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Steve86 says...
11:18pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Was wright subbed, because he was rubbish? Or injury?

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Boris says...
11:47pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Steve86 wrote:
Was wright subbed, because he was rubbish? Or injury?
We were a goal down by then so it was probably in hope of the on-loan hotshot reinforcing the attack and getting the equaliser. Well, he did help get the equaliser, but we needed more than that to get the 3 points, and it didn't happen. Smith looked quite good till he missed that sitter.
Wright didn't appear to suffer any injury.

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Catboy says...
11:52pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Wright was subbed as a tactical change - basically Joe got it wrong at the outset. We didn't have a shot on goal until he put two up. Morrison couldn't be faulted either. At the end we should have had a penalty, it 'hit' both arms. We deserved something from this game. Shame we got it wrong from the outset.

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Ozzie says...
2:21am Sun 10 Mar 13

So very disappointing that we lost despite such a spirited team performance. We looked, throughout the second half in particular, a cut above Crewe and deserved at the very least a draw from this game. Such a shame we didn't have Smith on from the start as a 'target man' for the supporting players to feed off. Nicely worked equaliser then some very poor refereeing decisions and two poor misses in front of goal cost us dearly today. Still chances for us to avoid the drop, but it is going to be close - think the season will go to the wire - away at Carlisle final match - could all hinge on that onr, Up the U's!!

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BlueandWhiteBaz says...
10:01pm Sun 10 Mar 13

Top marks for our fight back but you will never win if lady luck is against you. With injuries and suspensions plus awful officials, it seems our luck is right out and has been mostly all season. I have an awful feeling this season has been doomed right from the start.

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