Another terrific season all round for Crewe, who managed a very creditable mid-table finish in their first season after promotion to League One; the rapid rise under Steve Davis continues. Not only did they secure a healthy position in the league, they managed to win the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for the first time. In 2011/12 despite finishing seventh, I saw Crewe as arguably the best side in League Two with lots of dynamic young talent including the likes of Nick Powell, Max Clayton, Harry Davis, Matt Tootle and Kelvin Mellor. Powell's form secured him a move to Manchester United, and deservedly so. Prior to the start of 2012/13, I believed that the Alex would achieve their goal of staying up, but not by such a comfortable margin as the club was basically situated in mid-table security all season. They began in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Hartlepool in the Capital One Cup and then made a decent start to the league campaign. Throughout the season Gresty Road was a difficult place to come and visit although Crewe did not manage to win many matches very convincingly. Some terrific results were achieved on the road with wins at Coventry and Preston amongst others, and the away record was generally good all season with the exceptions of defeats to the bottom two clubs in the division (Portsmouth actually did the double over Crewe). One minor disappointment was the failure to reach the third round of the FA Cup, losing a tie that they were expected to win at home to Burton. The run in the JPT was very convincing, despite making hard work of their area final against Coventry. It was a fairly comfortable victory in the final, with the side playing lovely inventive football including a fantastic opening goal by captain Luke Murphy. Another superb achievement came on the final day of the season against Walsall where the club fielded a full team of players who had come through the academy. That XI proved to be the latest in a long line of exceptional talent to come through the ranks at Crewe Alexandra. Byron Moore has been a good servant to the club and was the standout player of that XI although I know that Crewe fans have high hopes for Ryan Colclough. Alan Martin began the season as the No.1 goalkeeper but Steve Phillips returned to his rightful place in the final months. Summer signings Mark Ellis and Gregor Robertson both seemed to settle well while Chuks Aneke and Mathias Pogba both chipped in with their fair share of goals. Steve Davis has not gone unnoticed.
