19/04/2008 - Crewe Alex 3, Cheltenham 1
Gwyn Griffiths reports from the Alexandra Stadium
NICKY Maynard hopes he hasn’t jinxed his goal glut by talking to the media.
The striker has carefully side-stepped press interviews during a scoring run which has seen him amass 11 goals in the last seven games to take Crewe to the brink of League One safety.
Breaking his vow on Saturday after collecting the first hat-trick of his senior career, Maynard admits he now expects to score once he catches sight of goal.
A combination of breathtaking and clinical finishing has seen off Yeovil and now Cheltenham to ensure only the very worst sequence of results over the last two weekends would see the Alex come to grief.
“I am more confident than ever at the moment. I wasn’t scoring as much as I wanted to after coming back from the injury (a broken leg) and I was getting a bit down,” admitted the 20-year-old.
“But once the goals have come my all-round play has been better. Whenever I’ve got the ball in and around the penalty area and I’ve got a chance to shoot I’m always confident I am going to work the goalkeeper. More often than not it will go in, that’s how confident I am.”
That was no better illustrated than when, collecting Kenny Lunt’s pass, he sized up and landed a measured finish into the far corner from the least inviting of angles wide left of Shane Higgs’s goal.
Arguably better than his opener at Yeovil a week before, Maynard’s 14th-minute strike was just the early fillip Crewe needed on an afternoon when nerves would be frayed with news of results elsewhere.
For while Cheltenham set themselves up with a cautious-looking 4-5-1 formation, they had a dangerous customer in Steven Gillespie.
The former Liverpool trainee forced Ben Williams into a near-post block as early as the third minute, which was not the only time the Alex keeper was called upon in a first 45 in which his side controlled most of the play.
Scott Brown’s in-swinging corner almost caught him out and Gillespie also spooned a juicy chance into his arms.
Crewe could have done with a two-goal cushion at the interval when Gillingham’s advantage at Bristol Rovers and leads for Bournemouth and Yeovil filtered through to the dressing room.
But referee Andy D’Urso and Cheltenham midfielder Ashley Vincent made sure that wasn’t the case.
D’Urso blithely ignored penalty appeals on the half hour after Shane Duff clearly clipped Tom Pope as the big striker ran across the box on to Maynard’s ball. Then Vincent came to his side’s rescue when he booted a Julien Baudet shot on the turn off the goalline.
“We knew at half-time most of the others were winning and I’m not sure we needed to know that as we started the second half poorly and they got on top,” admitted Alex assistant manager Neil Baker. “They were on the front foot and looked the likely winners at that stage.”
No doubt Cheltenham, a point ahead of Crewe before kick-off would have settled for a draw. And they were given a sniff of it by some classy finishing from Gillespie just over the hour mark.
In the ascendancy at that stage, although they hadn’t really created a genuine opening, the visitors produced a piece of brilliance to get back on terms. When Alan Wright’s cross was worked back to the winger on the edge of the box, he feinted one way to take out a couple of defenders before finding the far corner with a weighted clip of his right boot.
The situation called for a swift response and it came within six minutes when Maynard mopped up after Steve Schumacher and Pope tried to get shots away inside the box.
Cheltenham were at sixes and sevens as Maynard shielded the ball before finding the bottom corner with a low drive.
And before there could be another rally, Lunt’s corner and Baudet’s crashing header left Higgs exposed again with Maynard’s poaching instinct leaving him ideally placed to get the final touch as the keeper could only parry with 14 minutes left.
“I’m not going to get an easier chance than that to get a hat-trick,” said Maynard.
“If we’d had 15 minutes, Julien’s header might have trickled in, but I wasn’t going to let that opportunity slip and it was one of the easiest of my career.
“The main objective was to get the win, but for me to get three goals was a bonus.
“Our destiny is in our own hands now and we’re confident we’re going to stay in this League as I think we’ll get points against Bournemouth and Oldham.”
As if to amplify the importance of his third, Gillespie wasted two late chances to reduce the arrears, scuffing wide and then being denied by a brilliant reflex dive from Williams when it seemed easier to score.
“Ben was moving and that went back across him, so it was a fantastic save, which saved us a hectic few minutes at the end,” noted Baker, who took on press duties after Steve Holland’s cold left him ailing at the final whistle.
This vital victory will have been the perfect pick-me-up for the first team coach as was Bristol Rovers’s late equaliser against Gillingham, which arguably leaves in-form Bournemouth now as the major threat were Crewe to slip up badly in their last two games.
“We need a point presuming all the clubs around us win, so let’s get it over and done with,” said Baker.
“We don’t want to be playing Oldham in the last game with anything at stake. We’ve always said it is about us and not Gillingham and Millwall. If we keep winning then we will be safe.”
MATCH STATS
CREWE ALEX 3
(Maynard 14, 68, 76)
CHELTENHAM 1
(Gillespie 62)
Goal attempts: Crewe 13 (7 on target), Cheltenham13 (5 on target)
Referee: Andy D'Urso (Essex) 6
Attendance: 5,279
Cards: Yellow: Crewe – None. Cheltenham – Wright 59 (foul on Roberts). Red: None.
Entertainment: 7
PLAYER RATINGS
WILLIAMS: Brilliant reflex stop to deny Gillespie a late consolation. 7
ABBEY: Solid and kept at it after Gillespie switched wings. 7
BOYLE: Troubled early doors by Gillespie, but recovered in his final game. 6
BAUDET: Eclipsed by Maynard’s display, but arguably the next best performer. 8
McCREADY: Solid, didn’t do anything wrong. 7
LUNT: Vision to set up Maynard and impressive again. 7
SCHUMACHER: Always involved, good display. 8
ROBERTS: Ditto Schumacher, got on top in the middle. 7
ANYSINSAH: Showed plenty of determination, although touch let him down. 6
MAYNARD: One brilliant finish, one clinical and a piece of poaching. 8
POPE: Didn’t have any joy, but still played a vital role. 7
SUBSTITUTES
MORGAN (for Anyinsah, 68): Tucked in nicely on the right side of the attack. 6
CARRINGTON (for Roberts, 90): Slotted straight into middle.
S JONES (for Maynard, 89): Produced one promising late run to by-line.
Not used: O’Donnell, Fon Williams.
CHELTENHAM: 1 Higgs, 2 Gill, 22 Wright, 4 Duff, 19 Keogh, 18 Vincent, (17 Lindegaard, 68), 14 Bird, 24 Armstrong (16 Connolly, 71), 11 Scott Brown (27 D’Agostino, 88), 7 Gillespie, 9 Connor.
Not used: 12 Scott, P Brown, 20 Gallinagh.