A DOUBLE strike from Wayne Allison secured victory for Tranmere in a damp and dour affair in front of the Sky TV cameras at the Alexandra Stadium on Sunday.

His late brace settled a match that had looked destined for deadlock.

The first came after 74 minutes as the former Huddersfield forward rose above the Alex defence to head home Tony Grant's inswinging corner.

Ten minutes later, Allison picked up a loose ball in Crewe's area after a nudge on Macauley and unleashed a powerful drive that gave Kearton no chance.

Rovers had started the game brightly as they pushed forward relentlessly and following two George Santos efforts, Scott Taylor struck a vicious shot that hit the upright and crashed back out to safety after five minutes.

Crewe coped with the early onslaught and began to take control with some composed play which forced several corners, one of which produced the best chance of the half.

On 28 minutes Smith swung a precision ball into the box which Foran jumped to meet with a downward header that keeper Achterberg just reached to keep the scores level.

The Alex dominated possession for the remainder of the first half but the forward line were constantly frustrated by the offside trap.

Rivers created a good opportunity just before the interval as he chased a long ball through and took it past the advancing Achterberg, but it raced out of play before he could produce a shot.

An own goal nearly followed as Cramb's intelligent lofted ball to Rivers was intercepted by defender Allen. His back header forced Achterberg to back-peddle quickly in order to stop the looping ball from hitting the back of the net.

The Alex created a chance straight from the restart as Cramb ran down the right and played a great ball to Rivers whose effort was only denied by a fine save from Acterberg.

Conditions continued to deteriorate with the spasmodic heavy rain taking its toll on the pitch and it seemed more and more likely the game would end goalless until Allison struck.

David Wright had a good opportunity to level with ten minutes left as Rivers found him unmarked in the box but he stalled before deciding to shoot and Rovers's defence had time to get back and clear.

Allison's second wrapped it up for Tranmere and capped a disappointing day for the Alex.

Crewe: Kearton, D Wright, S Smith, Foran, Macauley, Charnock, Sorvel, Lunt (Grant), Little, Rivers, Cramb.

Subs not used: Welsby, Lightfoot, Collins, Bignot.

Attendance: 6,169.

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