CREWE Alexandra ground out a gritty stalemate with Northwich Victoria drawing 1-1 at the Drill Field on Tuesday night.

A strong line up included forward Paul Tait hoping to impress on a quick return to his former club.

The home side started brightly, creating early pressure for the Alex to cope with and a couple of corners followed.

But it was Crewe who were first off the mark, as Kevin Street played a great one-two with Colin Little, and fired the ball past stranded Keeper Lance Key on 11 minutes.

Crewe looked to build on their lead but any work created seemed to fall apart in the last third and Vics got back on level terms when a terrible mistake by the Alex defence let in Stuart Terry to smash the ball home from 15 yards after 21 minutes.

Neither side could stamp any authority on the game and Little, after linking well with Tait and Street, put Crewe's best chance of the half wide from close range 5 minutes before the break.

With a lack of any real threat on goal, Dario Gradi replaced forwards Peter Smith and Paul Tait with John Grant and, to the delight of the travelling Crewe fans, Rodney Jack, for the start of the second half.

Jack made an instant impact with his creative play and a great individual effort from him ended with a blistering strike hitting the crossbar after 55 minutes.

He always looked lively and was constantly mesmerising the Northwich defence but no clear cut chances arrived for the Alex.

In the dying moments, Street had a chance to wrap things up, finding himself one on one with the Northwich keeper, but saw his shot saved to leave the scores level.

Crewe suffered no serious injuries from the match but with Mark Rivers definitely out for the start of the season, the worry will be a lack of presence in front of goal.

The Alex continue their pre-season preparation with a visit to Second Division Blackpool on Saturday.

Crewe: Kearton, Wright, Smith, Macauley, Walton, Charnock, Street, Lunt (Sorvel), Tait (Grant), Smith (Jack), Little. Subs not used : Bignot.

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