Birmingham City...2 Crewe Alex...0

CREWE'S hopes of a bonus point against the Blues were dashed through a spot kick syndrome.

The Alex's only change from the side on duty against Sheffield United was Steve Foster in place of Jim Gannon while a notable absence in the Birmingham squad was Dele Adebola, out through injury.

A crowd of 28,042 was at St Andrews to see whether the home side could continue their surge up the table.

It was soon evident that the Crewe rearguard would have to show both patience and resolution to prevent Birmingham from scoring.

A ten minute late start and a very soft surface saw several players have difficulty controlling the ball and as the pressure mounted, Bankole proved his worth to the side with some fine saves.

Only twice did Crewe manage to break through but a quick thinking home defence cleared any danger and a hard fought first-half ended goalless with Alex fans hoping it could continue.

Early in the second period, Crewe had a good penalty appeal for a foul on Rivers turned down but in a similar incident at the other end a spot kick was awarded from which Birmingham took the lead on 61 minutes.

A second goal came in the 77th minute when a rare mistake in defence allowed Johnson to score.

Ten minutes from the end Bankole had to come off through injury and the home fans gave him a great ovation for his efforts.

Ashton and Clarkson replaced Little and Lunt but Crewe were unable to come back though Macauley did put the ball in the net late on only for the referee to rule it out.

David Wright helped Crewe raise their game at St Andrews but they couldn't beat the Blues, last Saturday. Photo by Steve Finch.