Oh! Mr Porter, what shall I do?
I want to go to Birmingham and they’re taking me on to Crewe,
Take me back to London, as quickly as you can,
Oh! Mr Porter, what a silly girl I am."
(George and Thomas Le Brunn, 1892 - popularised as a music-hall song by Marie Lloyd, with the salacious sub-text (for its time) of “a girl going too far”)
We travel to Gresty Road (sorry, “The People’s Pension Stadium”) to try and maintain our 100% League 2 away record, while extending The Railwaymen’s 0% League 2 home record. They started the season with a wake-up call from promotion favourites Plymouth Argyle but have shown character since then, knocking Middlesbrough out of the EFL Cup and landing Premier League opposition in the next round, even if it is only Dean Smith’s Aston Villa!! There is a “live” connection between the clubs in the form of Olly Lancashire, although he was substituted in the Middlesbrough game. And if you think their goalkeeper sounds familiar (if selected) with a name like Jaaskelainen, you’d be half right - it’s Will, the son of former Bolton Wanderers and Finland’s Jussi…
Current form for the Alex:-
Aug 3 Plymouth Argyle (H) Lost 0-3
Aug 10 Oldham Athletic (A) Won 1-2
Aug 13 Middlesbrough (A, EFL Cup) Drew 2-2 but won 2-4 on penalties
Darrell Clarke has had the opportunity of seeing his squad in 3 competitive games now, and he used the EFL Cup game to bring in some fringe players - so his selections for this fixture should really confirm his thinking on a preferred starting XI. Certainly James Hardy, Caolan Lavery and possibly Rory Holden have staked their claim for a place, and Clarke then has the headache of who to drop to the bench. The composition of the team is perhaps not as important as the performance on the pitch though, and while very few people would prefer eleven “headless chickens” it is noticeable that there is an energy and a team spirit that translates into a positive experience in a competitive fixture. The return of first-choice defenders combined with a tiny bit of luck in the final third could bring three points back to God’s own country.
Prediction… let’s be ambitious and say a 1-2 away win, with Lavery and Adebayo on target. Chris Porter to net a late consolation goal for The Alex.
UTS
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I see what you did there. 
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Cor wait. Crewe are a decent side, again i would settle for a point away here.
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One of my favourite away days so very much looking forward to this. Wouldn’t start Hardy away from home, but if we need a goal then bring him on. Would like to see Lavery start though IF match fit.
Crewe 1-1 Walsall.
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I am going and taking my 8 year old grandson who lives near Crewe. It is his first Walsall match although he has been to see Man City a few times with his dad. I wonder if he will notice the difference!!..Anyway a good 2-2 draw is my prediction. UTS
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Tough game this one, Crewe seem to be on decent form… take a draw.
Crewe , like Vale Chesterfield and Shrewsbury was always a classic away day. A 2-0 victory and a relaxing train ride home. UTS
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Be pleased with a draw, very happy with a win, just hope we put in 100% all over the pitch and we the fans give them the same.
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Let’s hope that last night was just a blip and we can carry on being hard to play against whilst creating a few more opportunities up the other end. I think Hardy should certainly be starting at home. But at Crewe I would start him on the bench ready to come and change the game if needed. Would give lavery a start. UTS
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I would like to see a 433 with Gordon and Adebayo on the wings with Lavery in the middle show some real attacking intent.
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I will be there with my Son.
Heart tells me 0-2 win to us, head tells me a good result would be a 1-1 draw.
I don’t want to jinx us but I’ve never seen us win there, a draw the best. Can anyone tell me the last time we won there?
UTS 
Would be crazy to play a different formation to the first two league games. Hardy has a place in this squad but I don’t think it’s on away days like this one unless you drop one of the strikers and play him in behind a lone forward.
Lavery has to come in for Gordon though, Adebayo has looked no more threatening but at least he holds the ball up exceptionally well. Don’t really care if he’s unfit. If that’s the case play him for 50-60. You don’t get match for without playing matches.
The Crawley result worries me, views of the game vary wildly from “we were outplayed” to “we should have won easily”. so nothing really to go on. But Crawley? come on, the eternal ‘just escaping relegation’ candidates for years? Perhaps they too have a new set up/formation/squad etc, but Crawley? And of course we had a somewhat trial formation of newcomers who didn’t appear to have impressed, so difficult to judge.
So, (as the modern youngsters now appear to start every sentence) I’m really looking forward to seeing my first match on Saturday, but fear our large crowds anticipation of a Plymouth type result may be a little optimistic. Heart says 1-1, head says 2-0 defeat.
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I’m not sure what being disrespectful to the opposition at this level achieves. There are probably premier league teams that still say that about Bournemouth. It’s probably what Sunderland we’re saying about us last season. We are as league two as they are. It’s irrelevant what any team has been historically that’s the level we are at now. Crawley, Forrest Green, Salford. It’s up to the club to build a team better than this level now.
Booing at half time 1-0 down in a tin pot cup with a few changes to the team makes me worry we simply don’t have the patience for it though.
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I was in the bar so didn’t hear a thing but have seen a few say it could have been towards the ref which is a fair point.
I genuinely can’t see our fans booing over that. But, with the ref being a bit ■■■■ too then it’s difficult to say either way who it was or wasn’t aimed at.
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Yep I don’t believe for one minute the booing was aimed at the players , it was towards the ref.
Your head always says defeat though 
Hmm I don’t think the ref was so drastically bad first half. Certainly not against us.
I heard the booing. Boos towards the ref/officials usually starts as these are leaving the pitch after the players already have; this was immediately on the whistle. Only sounded like a very small number and was mainly drowned out by the larger number who started clapping (perhaps, like me, deliberately in order to do so?)
I also heard a few individuals voicing negative comments about Norman throughout the game. He did no worse than anyone else so I hope he’s not going to become this year’s Leahy/Devlin (and many more before them) as a target for abuse whether warranted or not.
I didn’t hear anything but clapping and chanting in appreciation of the gallant failure at the end.
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