Yeovil Town made the trip up to Cheshire looking to bounce back from last weekends defeat to Swansea.
Russell Slade kept faith with most of the side that started that game, but was forced in to one change with Paul Warne coming in to the line-up in the place of Marcus Stewart, who missed out with the hamstring injury picked up in the first half last week.
This saw Yeovil start in a 4-5-1 formation; Lloyd Owusu playing up front, with Warne and Betsy interchanging on either flank outside the central midfield 3 of Barry, Rose and Cochrane.
The back four again consisted of Jones, Guyett, Forbes and Lynch in front of Steve Mildenhall.
Crewe Alexandra came in to the game on the back of a 2-2 draw at Cheltenham. First team coach Steve Hollands deciding to go with a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation going with the forward partnership of Church and Lowe.
And indeed it was Crewe who started the brighter side, with a neat interchange between the front two putting midfielder Gary Roberts in one-on-one with Steve Mildenhall in the first minute. The Glovers keeper was quickly off his line though to smother the attempt.
After that early pressure, Yeovil settled down and held their own. The next chance fell to The Railwaymen though, as some impressive one touch build up play saw Ben Rix turn in the box and have his shot blocked by the lunging Nathan Jones.
Yeovil began to impose themselves a little more, and got plenty of crosses in to the box, but were lacking that quality final ball. One cross that was blocked by George Abbey saw the Crewe centre back have to be stretchered off with an injury, to be replaced by Elliott Bennett.
The game seemed to turn in the 22nd minute, when Crewe won a free kick 25 yards out. Ben Rix curled a great strike towards goal and was unlucky to see the ball bounce off the bar and back in to the penalty area, where Simon Church's rebound header dropped on top of the bar.
This saw Alex really kick on, and 7 minutes later the home side took a deserved lead. A great ball down the right released Simon Church, who cut across the face of the box and saw his left footed strike superbly tipped around the post by Mildenhall. From the resulting corner, Chris McCready attacked the ball at the front post to put Crewe ahead.
Within 3 minutes the Railwaymen were pushing forward again, and a ball through the middle of the defence from Rix found Byron Moore, who shot just wide of the right hand post.
Yeovil were struggling to create even half chances, with Owusu heading a Jones cross well over. Back at the other end, a free kick was whipped in from the left wing by Ryan Lowe, which evaded everybody and hit Mildenhall's legs. The ball dropped for Billy Jones 25 yards out, whose drive towards goal was blocked by Guyett.
Again a Glovers' half-chance was headed over, this time by Guyett, and Crewe soon doubled their lead. The impressive Simon Church broke away down the left, went past Forbes to the byline and cut the ball back in to the six yard box. Mildenhall parried away but the ball fell to Moore just inside the penalty area, and he fired home through the Yeovil defence.
The away side had the chance to pull a goal back immediately, when a Betsy corner to the back post was headed goalwards by Guyett from point blank range. Ben Williams in the Crewe goal made a fine reaction stop, and Paul Warne sliced the rebound just wide from 6 yards.
That turned out to be the last meaningful action of the first half, and Yeovil went in to the break 2 goals down, leaving Russell Slade with a lot to do in the dressing room.
The Glovers' manager gambled at the start of the second half, bringing on Wilfried Domoraud and James Walker for Owusu and Cochrane, and in turn switching to a more attacking 4-4-2 formation.
This did lead to an improved display from the greens, seeing more of the ball in the Crewe half as the home side were content to soak up the pressure, which in truth they did with relative ease.
After just over an hour Slade introduced Gary Dempsey for Lynch and went even more on the attack, but Yeovil never really looked like breaking through.
Anthony Barry tried his luck from range 25 minutes in to the second half, but his volley was comfortably gathered by Williams. Dempsey followed suit soon after with a crisp strike straight at the keeper.
Walker and Domoraud looked lively, with Walker sending and overhead kick wide on 85 minutes, and Domoraud heading another Betsy cross wide two minutes later. However, Crewe finished the stronger side, testing Mildenhall twice on the counter attack in injury time, as they closed out the game easily.
So a second defeat in a row for Slade's men, - and a deserved one after an unusually poor 1st half performance - means Tuesday's clash at Cheltenham takes on even more importance to prevent the slide.
Chris Medland
