Head coach Lee Bell has revealed that Crewe Alexandra’s mood is low, following their FA Cup first-round draw to Derby County.
The Railwaymen raced into a 2-0 lead through Courtney Baker-Richardson and Elliott Nevitt, before the Rams staged a late comeback at the Mornflake Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and a 93rd-minute leveller from Conor Hourihane means a replay will be played at Pride Park in the coming weeks.
Speaking to club media, Lee Bell felt that his Crewe Alexandra side put up a valiant effort: “I thought the players were fantastic, they were absolutely outstanding.
“We had 12 fit players to choose from, Conor Thomas hasn’t played a game in however long, Mickey [Demetriou]’s got a broken toe. If we had three or four extra players I’m pretty sure the result would be different.
“If you would have spoken to me last night and this morning, and told me the story of what happened today, I’d have taken that.”
The 40-year-old also spoke on his disappointment at Derby County‘s late comeback. He added: “We have high expectations in the dressing room, So the mood is understandably low.
“It’s low on reflection because you feel you may have missed an oppotunity to knock Derby County out of the FA Cup.
“We’ve got a lot of players out injured, we have another game Saturday and it looks like it could be a few days after that.
“We’ve got to be careful with what we do, with what players we’ve got available. It’s not a missed opportunity, it’s just the way the game’s finished.”
Crewe welcome Notts County to Cheshire on Saturday, before travelling to Derby on Tuesday, the 14th of November.
Writer’s View
It’s understandable why the mood is low for Crewe after that result. They put in a noble effort and had the game in the palm of their hands. They let a 2-0 lead slip at home and now have to play at least 90 more minutes because of a four-minute slip at the end of the match, meaning more fixture congestion and fewer breaks, and could compound the Railwaymen’s injury crisis further.
Bell revealed that Mickey Demetriou played with a broken toe, something any Crewe fan does not want to hear. Having a key player like Demetriou out of action will not help an already stretched squad. But Bell does have youth options. He introduced 18-year-old Calum Agius with 10 minutes to play for his first minutes this season. The Alex boss will need his youngsters like Agius to get him through this crisis and potentially give him food for thought when players return to fitness.
