Vics 0 Crewe 2

Pre-season friendly

FIRST Division side Crewe Alexandra paid Vics due respect by fielding their strongest side at the Drill Field.

An early goal from Crewe shook Vics, as Rodney Jack broke down the right and crossed into the box for Mark Rivers to tap in the ball at the far post from three yards.

Urged on by a large following, Crewe continued to press forward and were rewarded in the 21st minute when the impressive Rivers outpaced Simpson and clinically shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Jack was giving the Vics defence a particularly hard time, while Devlin appeared to be facing a lone battle in midfield.

Vics did at last come close to scoring in the 29th minute when former Macclesfield left winger Stuart Whittaker beat two men in the box, but his shot from an acute angle hit the side netting.

But it was Jack who almost added a third for Crewe when his header flashed inches over the bar with Rigby beaten.

The second half, as seems to be the present fashion, saw a glut of substitutions which interrupted the flow of the game, although it was nice to see the introduction of Paul Tait for Crewe.

Vics stuck to their task well against quality opposition, and young Steve Walsh again caught the eye.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.