Crewe Alexandra’s late fightback earned them a draw against Nottingham Forest

After suffering their first pre-season defeat on Tuesday night against Stoke City, the Alex faced more Championship opposition in Chris Houghton’s Nottingham Forest side.

David Artell made seven changes from the side that started the game against Stoke. This could be an indication that he is yet to know what his best team is with the season just two weeks away.

A big plus for the manager and Alex fans was the return of centre-back Luke Offord as the defender went off early in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers just a week ago.

Having missed the game against Stoke in midweek, fans may have feared the worst with Offord missing the end of last season through injury, but his return to the starting 11 to face Forest was a welcomed one.

The opening 45 minutes had very few goalscoring opportunities. Joe Lolley went close in the opening minutes as his curling effort hit the crossbar.

Callum Ainley, who looked sharp in midweek, was the main threat for Crewe and forced Brice Samba into a sharp save, but it was the away side who opened the scoring midway through the first-half. Lolley’s long-range effort was too powerful for Dave Richards to handle as he spilt the ball into the path of Brennan Johnson who poked the ball into the empty net to send the Championship into the break ahead.

On the hour mark, the 20-year-old grabbed his second. A loose pass from Offord gave the ball away and Forest took full advantage with Johnson cutting back inside the defender before firing low into the far corner. The second goal looked to have taken the wind out of Crewe as the intensity of the game dropped, but a well-deserved goal from Ainley brought the game back to life with 15 minutes remaining.

Alex fans didn’t have to wait long for the equaliser, and what a goal it was. Rio Adebisi received the ball on the right, cut inside and then unleashed a thunderous strike into the far corner.

The Railwaymen did have opportunities to grab a winner late on, but just like midweek, the attempts went agonisingly wide. Another big positive for Crewe fans to take away from the game is the fightback their side showed against a side from the league above. In each game so far, they have shown they are more than capable to score against any side.

With a draw and a defeat this week, David Artell has some big decisions to make ahead of the Alex’s first game of the season against Cheltenham Town on August 7th.

Today’s game saw Dave Richards take the number one jersey, but his performance left questions unanswered. He was at fault for the opening goal and looked shaky all afternoon. Will Jaaskelainen has performed very well in the games he has been involved in with outstanding saves in the games against Stoke and Nantwich putting him in pole position to start the season in between the posts.

Another question is who will be the starting centre-back pairing? Luke Offord has performed well and he has been the constant in that position but there is yet to be a consistent pairing at the back. Donervon Daniels, Tommie Hoban have all partnered with Offord with youngster Billy Sass-Davies also been given the opportunity to play in that position.

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