Bury - 1 Crewe Alexandra - 0

BUSTLING Bury proved too strong in defence for Crewe to rescue anything from this game and only a star performance from Jason Kearton kept the final score down to 1-0.

The Alex welcomed back Steve Anthrobus to the starting line-up for the first time this season and also had Rodney Jack included for his league debut.

Early exchanges were mainly confined to the midfield and there was a distinct difference in the styles of the teams. The Gigg Lane side had several newcomers from last season, the additions definitely added height to the side.

Rodney Jack operating down the left flank caused early problems with his speed and raised the hopes of Crewe fans.

Kearton was by far the busiest keeper and had to be alert to deal with the aerial threat posed by the front men. Bury eventually took the lead from Frenchman D'Jaffo who scored from close range in the 35th minute.

It was only shortly before the interval that Crewe had their first shot on target but this was comfortably dealt with by the home defence.

Both sides kept the same line-up for the start of the second half but Crewe were the first to make a change with Street replacing Little. A surging run through midfield almost brought an equaliser for Johnson but the ball ran away from him as he closed on goal.

Kearton was called upon to make a number of excellent saves including, one from Preece who fired in a volley only for the in-form 'keeper to top it over the bar for a fruitless corner.

Despite home pressure no further goals came along but the home side denied Crewe an equaliser. Kenny Lunt replaced Charnock and Steven Foster made his first senior appearance when he replaced Lightfoot who pulled a hamstring.

Crewe had been hoping for at least a point but this was one of those days when things did not go our way.

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