QPR.....1 CREWE.....0
A DOMINANT performance brought Crewe no reward from their trip to QPR on Saturday.
During the rest of the season it's highly unlikely you'll see the Alex completely control a game but still come away pointless and without a goal.
But that's what happened at Loftus Road.
Making his long-awaited full debut, Rob Hulse almost gave the Alex a dream start after 2 minutes as Jack burst through down the right and squared a good ball for the 20-year old forward to strike just wide of the target.
The early signs were good for Crewe as Jack constantly had the beating of full-back Ready and an almost identical move saw a great ball to Hulse well cut out by the Hoops defence.
Disaster struck on 13 minutes as Wright's sloppy back-pass left Kearton in trouble and his clearance struck a chasing Furlong and rebounded into the back of the net.
An equaliser looked on the cards as Crewe continued to pressure the home side for the remainder of the half.
Macauley headed a free-kick just over on 25 minutes and two minutes later Rivers almost took a long through ball past keeper Harper but a great reflex stop denied him an open net.
Kevin Street capped an impressive battling display in the middle with two solid long range efforts but deep into injury time, the home side could have made it two as an excellent passing manoeuvre produced Langley an opportunity to severely test Kearton.
The Alex continued with vigour after the interval but the breaks were not as forthcoming as they had been previously.
Frustration was obvious and as they began to switch off, QPR started seeing more and more of the ball.
Throughout the afternoon the home side's only real danger man had been Furlong.
The on-loan forward from Birmingham went close through a point-blank header that was well stopped by Kearton and in a one-on-one he blasted a fraction past the upright on 69 minutes.
With ten minutes left Crewe's best chance of the half arrived as Hulse picked up a loose ball on the right and from a tight angle, drove a spectacular effort against the underside of the bar.
That summed up their day as the ball bobbled around the line and was promptly cleared.
Late efforts from Rivers and Jack were dealt with as QPR hung on to pick up their first victory of the season.
Crewe: Kearton, Wright, Smith, Macauley, Sodje, Lunt, Sorvel, Street, Jack, Hulse (Grant 81), Rivers.
Subs not used: Little, Foster, Liddle, Bankole.
Attendance: 9,415.
Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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