Match ends, Accrington Stanley 0, Crewe Alexandra 2.
AccringtonAccrington Stanley0CreweCrewe Alexandra2
League Two promotion chasers Crewe secured a 2-0 FA Cup first-round win over League One side Accrington - but the real story of an extraordinary game concerned the officials.
Referee Neil Hair limped off in the 22nd minute and was replaced in the middle by fourth official Alan Clayton.
Mr Clayton was injured at half-time and the interval lasted over an hour while both sides discussed how to go forward as neither of the injured officials could run the line and anyone qualified in the crowd had a bias to a particular side.
The second half ended up kicking off at 17: 10 GMT, with the agreement of both managers John Coleman and Dave Artell, with assistant referee Danny Gratton taking over as referee and just one assistant Conor Brown.
It was decided on the toss of a coin which side he would officiate on, which was the Crewe half, while Mr Clayton went back to fourth official.
In the match itself, Chris Porter headed against the post for Crewe in the 12th minute before Jerome Opoku lashed a 25-yard strike against the crossbar in injury-time in the first half for Stanley.
From this, Crewe broke and, in the second minute of first-half added time, Charlie Kirk got the ball in the area to fire past Dimi Evtimov, his strike going in off the post.
Crewe doubled their advantage when they were awarded a penalty by Mr Gratton on 67 minutes, after Opoku's foul on Tommy Lowery, and Porter fired home the spot kick.
To make things worse for Stanley they were reduced to 10 men when Mark Hughes was sent off on 77 minutes for bringing down last man Owen Dale, who was charging through.
Report supplied by PA Media.
Line-ups
Accrington
Formation 4-1-2-1-2
- 1Evtimov
- 2JohnsonSubstituted forNeves Bento De Carvalhoat 69'minutesBooked at 86mins
- 3HughesBooked at 77mins
- 34Alese
- 36OpokuBooked at 38minsSubstituted forSykesat 74'minutes
- 28Conneely
- 7Clark
- 11McConvilleSubstituted forCharlesat 45'minutes
- 8Finley
- 10Pritchard
- 19Bishop
Substitutes
- 4Edwards
- 5Sykes
- 6Sherif
- 23Neves Bento De Carvalho
- 30Bursik
- 32Charles
- 35Simpson
Crewe
Formation 4-3-3
- 1JaaskelainenBooked at 69mins
- 2Ng
- 15Hunt
- 30Mbulu
- 3Pickering
- 12Green
- 4Wintle
- 16LoweryBooked at 83mins
- 19Dale
- 9Porter
- 10Kirk
Substitutes
- 8Jones
- 11Ainley
- 13Richards
- 14Finney
- 17Anene
- 23Johnson
- 25Adebisi
- Referee:
- Neil Hair
- Attendance:
- 1,655
Match Stats
Home TeamAccringtonAway TeamCrewe
- Possession
- Home47%
- Away53%
- Shots
- Home11
- Away12
- Shots on Target
- Home1
- Away6
- Corners
- Home6
- Away5
- Fouls
- Home15
- Away9
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Accrington Stanley 0, Crewe Alexandra 2.
Post update
Colby Bishop (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Charlie Kirk (Crewe Alexandra).
Post update
Foul by Dion Charles (Accrington Stanley).
Post update
Perry Ng (Crewe Alexandra) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Post update
Attempt missed. Ross Sykes (Accrington Stanley) header from the right side of the box is just a bit too high.
Post update
Sam Finley (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Post update
Foul by Paul Green (Crewe Alexandra).
Booking
Wilson Carvalho (Accrington Stanley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Wilson Carvalho (Accrington Stanley).
Post update
Perry Ng (Crewe Alexandra) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Sam Finley (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
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Corner, Accrington Stanley. Conceded by Perry Ng.
Booking
Tommy Lowery (Crewe Alexandra) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Dimitar Evtimov (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Tommy Lowery (Crewe Alexandra).
Post update
Attempt blocked. Perry Ng (Crewe Alexandra) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Post update
Corner, Crewe Alexandra. Conceded by Dimitar Evtimov.
Post update
Attempt saved. Tommy Lowery (Crewe Alexandra) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
