Crewe Alexandra v Tranmere Rovers Preview

Last updated : 31 December 2007 By Matthew Jones

The festive season of fixtures continues this week as Tranmere Rovers make the short trip through Cheshire to take on Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road in a game which is sure to see some good football and hopefully see Tranmere move three points closer to the top two.

Tranmere will be looking to start the year in better away form than the ended the last one following three consecutive defeats on the road whilst players will be looking to cement their place in the side as the transfer window opens for one month.

Crewe Alexandra team profile:

Formed: 1877

Ground: Gresty Road

Manager: Steve Holland

Nickname: The Alex/The Railwaymen

Season Finish 2006/07: 13th (Coca-Cola League One)


Previous Meetings:

Tranmere and Crewe have already met once this season, with the two teams drawing 1-1 at Prenton Park in Coca-Cola League One on October 2nd, a Tuesday night fixture.

Crewe took the lead in this game from the penalty spot through Billy Roberts on 56 minutes.  The spot-kick was awarded by referee S. Mathieson after Ben Chorley was judged to have held down Crewe defender Billy Jones in the penalty area from a Crewe corner, and Roberts stepped up to fire the ball into the top left hand corner of the goal.

However, the Railwaymen only held the lead for nine minutes as Tranmere equalised with 65 minutes on the clock thanks to a strike from Chris Shuker.  The goal was set up by Mike Jones, in the side for the injured Steve Davies, as Jones played a beautiful defence splitting pass through to Shuker from the edge of the area, and Shuker did the rest by chipping the Crewe 'keeper to level the scores.

Vital Stats:

Tranmere are unbeaten in their last four games against Crewe

These two sides have previously met 62 times at Crewe, with Rovers picking up 16 wins compared to Crewe's 29

This will impressively be the 127 meetings between the two teams in all competitions

Tranmere have scored over 200 goals against Crewe

None of the last 21 meetings between these two sides have ended goalless, with the last 0-0 draw coming in the 1987/88 season

On This Day:

2007:  Tranmere win 2-1 against Rotherham at Prenton Park thanks to goals from Shane Sherriff and Gareth Taylor

2005:  Rovers, then managed by Brian Little, draw 2-2 away to Oldham Athletic on their way to securing a place in the League One play-offs at the end of the season

1953:  Tranmere win 3-0 against Crewe Alexandra at Prenton Park in Division Three North

Tranmere played 38 matches on New Years Day and they have won 20 of these games, drawing eight times and losing on ten occasions.  They have scored 80 goals and conceded 56 on January 1st.

The Form Book:

Crewe last 6 home games:  LDLWWW
Tranmere last 6 away games:  WDLWDL

It is fair to say that Crewe's home form this season has so far been very inconsistent, as their current run of three games without a win follows a run of four consecutive wins.

In the first match of their six match sequence, Crewe picked up an important 2-0 win over Yeovil Town thanks to goals former Tranmere player McCready and Moore in the first half before The Alex went on to beat MK Dons 2-1 in the F.A. Cup first round and Northampton Town 1-0 in the league.

Since however, Crewe are without a home win.  The Railwaymen started December with a 3-2 home defeat to Gillingham before drawing 0-0 at home to Walsall, a result which Tranmere have also picked up this season.

In their most recent home game, Crewe lost 4-0 after a dismal display against Doncaster Rovers, with former Tranmere player Jason Price netting twice for Rovers.

Other notable results at Gresty Road for Crewe include victories over Brighton and Hove Albion (2-1), Huddersfield Town (2-0) and Luton Town (2-0).

From 11 home league games, Crewe have picked up five wins, two draws and four defeats, meaning they have a total of 17 points from an available 33.

Crewe's only victory on the road this season came at Port Vale, when Crewe made the short trip through Cheshire to Burslem and beat Vale 1-0 thanks to a strike a 76th minute strike from Bennett.

After a superb start to the season on the road, Tranmere's away form has certainly started to tail away, as they come into this fixture without an away win in the league since October 6th.

In the first match of their six match sequence, Rovers came from 1-0 down to beat Chesterfield 2-1 in the F.A. Cup first round before drawing 0-0 in their first visit to Doncaster's new Keepmoat Stadium, despite playing almost half the game with only ten men after Carl Tremarco was dubiously sent off two minutes into the second period.

These two results were followed by an encouraging F.A. Cup second round win at Bradford, where Rovers played their opposition off the park and won 3-0 thanks to two strikes from Chris Greenacre and a long range goal from Steven Jennings.

However, Tranmere came back down to earth with a bump three days later as they made the trip across the country to take on Hartlepool and put in a dire display on their way to a 3-1 defeat.

Ronnie Moore's side then travelled to Port Vale and picked up a disappointing 0-0 draw before losing their last away game 1-0 to Luton Town just three day before Christmas, with a Danny Coyne error costing Rovers a point.

Other notable away results for Tranmere include league wins against Gillingham (2-0), Carlisle United (1-0) and Southend United (2-1).


From eleven away games, Tranmere have picked up 13 points from an available 33 thanks to three wins, four draws and three defeats.

Important home wins for Tranmere this season include wins over Luton Town (2-1), Huddersfield Town (3-0) and Carlisle United (2-0).

Double Hit:

 

Former Liverpool trainee, now playing down south with MK Dons in League Two played for both Tranmere Rovers and Crewe Alexandra on loan during the 2001/02 season.

 

Navarro came through the ranks at Liverpool but failed to make an appearance for the Premiership giants and joined Crewe for the first time on loan in March 2001.  He played eight games for the Alex, scoring once, before returning to Liverpool, but then in August 2001 he returned to Crewe, again on loan, making a further nine appearances for the club.

 

In November 2001, Navarro joined Tranmere on an initial two month loan deal.  He played four times for the club, scoring twice, and did enough to convince then Tranmere managed Dave Watson to pay £225,000 for his services on a permanent basis.

 

However, Navarro's time at Prenton Park after signing permanently was hampered by injury, one of which kept him out for ten months.  In four and a half years, he only made 48 appearances for the club, but also spent time on loan at Macclesfield and Chester in the 04/05 season, playing a collective total of 15 times for the two clubs.

 

He left Tranmere in September 2005 to join Accrington Stanley on a one month contract before joining Macclesfield permanently for free.  He played 71 games for the Silk men before following Paul Ince to the MK Dons in the summer of 2007 for free.


Sine joining the club formerly known as Wimbledon, the industrious midfielder has played 21 games and scored one goal in a 5-0 win against his former club Accrington.


One To Watch:  Nicky Maynard

 

Striker Nicky Maynard burst on to the scene with Crewe last season as he netted 19 times in his first full season for the club.


Maynard, who signed from local non-league side Quorn, made his debut for Crewe in a 4-2 win over Millwall in March 2005, a game in which he netted, and has since gone on to become a hugely important player for the club.


With bags of pace and natural ability, Maynard is a handful for any defence in League One.  In 45 games for Crewe, Maynard has netted 21 goals, not a bad record for a 21 year old just beginning to make his way in the game.


Due to injury, Maynard has only made six appearances for the Railwaymen this season, scoring once, after making his return to the Crewe side on December 1st.

Around League One:


The leaders of League One (Swansea City) travel to Swindon on Tuesday whilst second placed Nottingham Forest look to put their comprehensive defeat at Gillingham on Saturday behind them with a home game against Huddersfield Town.

On the South Coast, Brighton and Bournemouth do battle at the Withdean Stadium whilst Carlisle look to overcome back-to-back away defeats over Christmas with a home game against Hartlepool United.  Leeds face Oldham at Elland Road whilst misfiring Leyton Orient are at home to Gillingham in another local game.

The other games in League One are Luton v Yeovil, Northampton v Millwall, Southend v Bristol Rovers and Walsall v Doncaster.


Team News:

Tranmere will be without Chris Shuker and Steve Davies who are both likely to miss the rest of the season with cruciate ligament injuries.  Of the rest, Gareth Taylor is expected to be fit enough to return to the bench but John Mullin may not be fit enough to travel the short journey to Gresty Road.


Jones' Prediction: Crewe 0-1 Tranmere Rovers

I think that Tranmere can win this game against a Crewe side who offered very little at Prenton Park earlier in the season.  However, they should not be underestimated and on a few occasions this season they have sparked into life with great performances to win games.

However, with McLaren in the form he is in and Zola up front with Greenacre, Tranmere should be too much for Crewe.  This is an away game however and recent fixtures have seen Tranmere boss Ronnie Moore play a more defensive formation away from home, and should that be the case in this fixture, another draw between the two sides is very likely.