TWO goals in two minutes from Crewe striker Mark Rivers breathed life into a dreary tie at Gresty Road on Tuesday night, and sent Bristol City crashing out of the Worthington Cup.

The Alex took the lead on 63 minutes when Marcus Bignot's cross found the young forward, who turned on the edge of the six-yard box and fired the ball home with his left boot.

Seconds later the lead was doubled when Colin Little raced down the left hand side and drove a low ball into the box for Rivers and City keeper Keith Welch to contest.

Rivers reacted quickest and forced the ball home from close range.

A dreary first-half saw Bristol's only threat come mid-way when Ade Akinbiyi found himself in a one-on-one with Lee Unsworth on the edge of the area.

Unsworth held the tall front man up long enough for Crewe reinforcements to arrive and the shot was covered by Jason Kearton.

But the best chances fell to Crewe, with Seth Johnson heading just over the bar from a Shaun Smith free kick and City defender Julian Watts forcing an improvised headed clearance from Welch after a heavy back-pass.

Bristol threw more bodies upfield to respond to the second-half strikes but couldn't penetrate a solid Alex defence.

Crewe boss Dario Gradi said afterwards he was pleased with the performance of his two-goal hero.

"I thought in the first half there was only Rivers who was going to cause problems. He is definitely chancing his arm with his runs. The worst thing to play against is pace, and he has that," he said.

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