Crewe 3 Raging Fever 1

Report filed by John Matthews

Fever arranged a game against Crewe fans, played while on the way to Northwich. The weather conditions were similar to those experienced in the afternoon, but thankfully the Crewe fans had managed to secure a synthetic pitch at Nantwich Town FC.

The level playing surface and lack of mud foxed the makeshift Fever team, which contained debutant Alan and a certain Gary Silver trying to roll back the years. Within five minutes, Crewe were 2-0 up. First, a snapshot from the edge of the box zipped off the surface past keeper Joel Harrison and into the bottom corner. From the next attack, a speculative effort from 20 yards found its way into the net, despite Harrison getting a hand to it. At this point, some of the team began thinking a record defeat was on the cards, and so the resurgence for the rest of the half was encouraging.

Fever forced a succession of corners, none of which bore fruit (despite a rare Gary Butler effort) although with the swirling wind, it was difficult to judge the flight of the ball. The closest Fever came in the first half was a 20-yard shot from John Matthews, which the goalkeeper spilled around the post. Silver and James Simpson also had efforts, but to no avail. The halftime team talk was an encouraging one, despite the scoreline, as all the team recognised that, given the fact the team had been thrown together (not to mention the youth and skill of the Crewe eleven), 2-0 wasn