Quorn Review

Apart from the game in Bulgaria, tonight’s friendly was the first chance of seeing the Alex in action after the comings and goings of the close season.  Half of the squad were playing at Biddulph, with the remaining members travelling to the picturesque village of Quorn.  The team of Quorn play in the Unibond South league facing such footballing giants as Gresley Rovers, Sheffield FC and Leek Town, and shall be forever linked with the Alex as that is from where we signed Luke Varney.

Much anticipation as to how the new team will fare, after last seasons annus horribilis.  How much would we miss the safe hands of Ben Williams, the surging forward runs of Neil Cox, the work rate of Ryan Lowe, and also the man who gelled all the team together with his highly amusing antics, Gary Roberts (irony intended).

Crewe ASi organised a free bus to Quorn, with all places quickly snapped up, and together with other Alex fans who had made their own way, made up almost half of the attendance.  Always a pleasure to go to Quorn with a quaint little ground, wonderful bar facilities and we have always been made to feel welcome.

This does appear to be an annual event, with last years game giving a run out to Ryan Lynch whilst on trial which earnt himself a 12 month contract, and also gave lots of fans a first opportunity to see Byron Moore who seemed to come from nowhere to play over half of last seasons games.  Who else have we seen at Quorn in past years?  Well both

big Pav and Justin Cochrane scored their first goals in the shirt of the Alex.  Sadly this was not the start of a goal feast for either player in games to come.

So who did we see this year at Quorn?   Well the team was managed / coached (or whatever term the club wish to use) by Steve Holland.  Steve was more than happy to chat with fans both before and after the game, giving a few snippets about Gary Roberts.  It does appear that Steve would like to keep Gary, but is oh so frustrated at his attitude.  

In goal we had Adam Legzdins.  Full backs were Danny Woodards and Billy Jones, with central defence duo of Danny O’Donnell and a trialist from Mansfield, Jake Buxton.  Wide midfielders were Joel Grant and Eugen Bopp, with middle positions taken by loan signing from Spurs, Jake Livermore and Michael O’Connor.  Front two were Calvin Zola and Eddie Johnson.  Four young subs, Josh Thompson, Ashley Westwood, Luke Murphy, and an unknown Italian (allegedly) with a name something like Ferrier.

One player not figuring in either game was Nicky Maynard due to a niggling injury.  General consensus was that we didn’t want to risk getting him injured with a £2 million transfer imminent.

Always nice to see how the new players perform and here’s a brief overview of their performance :

Adam Legzdins.  Looks the part in that he is a big old unit.  Had very little to do, but did manage to fumble a couple of back passes, but had no real chance with the goal.  Steve Holland hopes that he will be pushing for the Number one spot.

Jake Buxton.  Similar in stature to Julian Baudet.  Is certainly not the commanding centre half we have been looking for, but could possibly play anywhere along the back four.  Solid performance and could well be given another couple of games to stake a claim for a contract

Jake Livermore.  Steve Holland described him beforehand as a battling athletic midfielder who would score goals, but who was weak in the air.  A number of higher clubs were interested in him, but came to us as we could offer him a starting place, presumably, replacing Gary Roberts.  Fans assessment on his performance were divided.  Though was in the game a lot, never really did anything positive.  I will reserve judgement on Jake.

Joel Grant.  Tricky wide player, full of tricks and step overs but does deliver a good ball.  Good performance this evening and will get better.

Calvin Zola.  Tall player who lacks body strength on the ball.  With his height he will obviously win a lot of headers.  Will hopefully improve with a few more games.  Took his headed goal well.

Eddie Johnson.  More comebacks than Frank Sinatra.  Will he, won’t he be offered a contract?   On this performance hopefully he will.  Fully committed and unlucky not to get a hat trick.  Linked up well, and never stopped looking for the ball.

 And of the old timers :

Danny Woodards.  Would love to see him stay, assured performance, good going forward.

Billy Jones.  Wayward passing and crossing but did set two of the goals up. 

Danny O’Donnell.  Was tonight’s weakest link.  Against weak opposition, his performance could be describes at best as poor, and may prove to be out of his depth in a paddling pool.

Eugen Bopp.  Lively start but faded as the game wore on.  Most people surprised he is still here, but could hopefully play a part in the team this season.

Michael O’Connor.  Carried on where he left off last season.  Mature performance and will be an automatic choice in the starting eleven.

What of the game?  Well, straight from the whistle, Crewe went on the attack.  Boppy seemed to be on a mission to score, bringing out two flying saves from the Quorn keeper.  Quorn were under persistent pressure, and it was no surprise when we opened the scoring.  Billy Jones had previously, sliced a clearance, misplaced a couple of passes, and hit a cross high and wide clearing the stand behind the goal.  Eventually he got his correct boots on, and found the head of Calvin Zola, who directed it towards the corner of the net, giving the keeper no chance. 

Nothing changed after the goal and soon after the ball dropped to Occy on the edge of the area,.  He got the ball from under his feet and expertly chipped the keeper to make it 2-0.  Crewe were in full flow now, and after a lovely 5 man move the ball fell to Zola with an empty net in front of him, only to screw the ball wide.

Quorn then did make a bit of a game of it and O’Donnell was caught out a couple of times, but nothing came of these attacks.  Joel Grant continued to persistently beat his defender with Bopp and Zola being told by Steve Holland to do simple things well and quick.  This worked well, as another cross field ball from Billy Jones, found Calvin Zola who laid the ball into the path of Eddie Johnson who placed the ball into the corner of the net, to make the half time score

3-0.  In fact Eddie could have made it four almost immediately after but fluffed a one on one chance.

No half time changes for the Alex, but Quorn appeared to have been invigorated by a team talk and came out all guns blazing.  In fact they should have scored after 50 minutes but a fine save by Legzdins denied them.  However it only delayed a goal by a minute, as from the resulting corner, the defence failed to pick up one of the strikers who stooped to head the ball home.  Quorn continued to attack, without ever really creating any more chances.  On the hour mark Eddie Johnson scored his second and Crewe's fourth.  Long ball over the defence by Bopp, expertly chested down by Johnson and fired the ball home.

A few substitutions followed.  A hobbling Zola replaced by Luke Murphy gave Joel Grant the chance to push further forward.  No injury reported for Zola and it appeared it was a case of cramp.  The game was gradually petering out as the plucky part timers tired, and the Alex were content to pass the ball around.  Josh Thompson was given a run out up front replacing Joel Grant, and Occy was given a rest being replaced by Ashley Westwood.  The unknown Italian remains unknown as he was never brought on.

The game finished at 4-1, giving the Alex and nice little run out, with no injuries reported, and true to tradition, CASi members were first to the bar and on the starting blocks for as soon as the buffet was open.

Strangely the full bus on the way to Quorn was not full on the way home, as two lads decided they would prefer to sample the evening delights of Quorn rather than a bus ride home.  Anyway, all in all, a great evening, CASi’s free journey gave more fans the opportunity to visit the game.  John Ford will, once again be running a bus to every Alex away game this season.  Details can be found on our website.