Steve Davis' men triumphed by the same scoreline in last term's npower League Two play off-final against Cheltenham and they overcame a Southend side who battled gamely for revenge having been Alex's semi-final victims 11 months ago.The opening goal arrived in some style. Byron Moore's corner from the right was stroked low towards the edge of the area from the right and Harry Davis dummied the pass for Murphy to steer into the top corner despite Anthony Straker's presence on the goal-line.Mohsni immediately looked to make amends but his header from point-blank range was superbly diverted away from the goalmouth by Davis. Boss Phil Brown brought on Ben Reeves and Barry Corr for Barker and Mohsni before the hour and Corr headed wide when his fellow substitute played in Gavin Tomlin to cross.A superb strike from Railwaymen captain Murphy opened the scoring after six minutes and the League One side threatened to run riot in a rampant opening quarter of an hour. Crewe added a second through Clayton's close-range finish in the 49th minute after some slack Blues defending.Shrimpers fans celebrated what they thought was the award of a penalty before the half hour when Britt Assombalonga tangled with defender Mark Ellis. Referee Nigel Miller correctly signalled for a goal-kick. The Blues were by now asking regular questions of Crewe and should have been level nine minutes before the break, but Tamika Mkandawire sent a free header over from Chris Barker's corner.Bilel Mohsni claimed he was fouled by Murphy in the build up to the second goal and the enigmatic forward almost reduced the arrears shortly afterwards, but the Shrimpers were to to bridesmaids in this competition once more as in the 2004 and 2005 finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment