Accrington Stanley v Crewe Alex 25-26 Preview - Fizzling Out

It's weird, but I almost can't remember a time before football on Good Friday was a thing. Saturday-Monday scheduling over the Easter weekend used to be the norm, but now the first game being moved to the Friday is standard. Since games have been moved to Good Friday full time, we have seen some highs, lows and everything in between.

The 4-3 collapse from 3-1 up against 10 men at Morecambe, the 2 John Akinde penalties to lose at Barnet, the late defeat against Hull in 2021. Then there have been the games in between, namely the back to back 0-0 draws at Gillingham and Colchester in the last 2 seasons. As dull as dishwater.

However, there have been some highs. The win at Shrewsbury in 2014, the demolitions of Yeovil and Barrow and 3-1 home victory over Wimbledon in 2022 to snap a 9 game winless streak at home. I wonder what we'll get from this one? Hopefully more of the latter. Here is my preview of the Alex's trip to the Crown Ground:

Fizzling Out

After playing a team last week that was in the form of it's life in Oldham, Accy are heading in the opposite direction at the moment. Had the Alex played them 2 months ago I'd have been very nervous. They were in a fantastic run of form. Between the end of October and mid-February, they went 11-4-5, picking up wins against the likes of Swindon, Notts County and Salford. However, they have since cooled off dramatically.

They are now 1-2-6 in their last 9 and have failed to score in 6 of them. They have gone 0-1-4 in their last 5 home games, scoring just once in that time, in their 1-1 draw with Cambridge. They are very much looking like a team that knows it is safe and is checked out. Hopefully the Alex can take advantage of that.

Away Improvements

After the defeat against Notts County, I was highly critical of the Alex's away form, which had slid a lot compared to the previous 2 seasons. However, Bell and the players have turned it around admirably to the point where they've lost 1 of their last 7 on the road and have picked up 3 wins.

However, as impressive as that turnaround has been, this will be their last 'favourable' away game. Their final 2 trip are to Grimsby and Chesterfield, both sides fighting tooth and nail to make it into the top 7 alongside the Alex. They've fallen down in similar trips. Newport, Barrow, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers. They can't let that happen again here, as they'll be putting all the pressure on those final 5 games.

3 in a row

Winning games has not been an issue for this Alex side. They've won more games than last season already and are only 1 off their total from 23-24. However, stringing together wins has been a problem. Since their opening 4 games/wins, their longest winning run has been 2. They are 0-1-3 since August in the 3rd game after winning 2 straight. They really could do with ending that record here.

Complacency

The biggest fear I have for this game isn't the opposition. It's the Alex being distracted by their final 5 and turning up here expecting an easy ride or a coast to 3 points. They've had games this season where I honestly do think they've gotten themselves in front and then gone into cruise control to try and win it with as little exertion as possible. I'm thinking Newport at home, Harrogate at home and Bristol Rovers away.

I'm sure Lee Bell will be doing his upmost to ensure his players are focused on this game and this game alone. Forget Salford on Monday, forget any game beyond that, be it Grimsby, Chesterfield etc etc. They need to treat this game as if it was their only game. A cup final if you will, not that I'm using that dreaded cliche. But they need to focus on getting 3 points here and only if/when they do that, focus on what comes next.

Opposition Watch

With 6 games left and the Alex in the thick of a play-off race, I'm introducing a new section for the run in for both my previews and reviews, which entirely focuses on their play-off rivals. For now, those rivals are considered to be Grimsby, Chesterfield, Oldham, Walsall and Barnet.

Starting with Grimsby, they have a favourable home game against Harrogate. Now, Harrogate are fighting tooth and nail for survival, but their poor showing against Notts County last Saturday suggests to me that Grimsby should make short work of them on home soil.

Chesterfield too have a nice(on paper) looking home game against Cheltenham. The Robins have some firepower, but their leaky defence has me thinking that Chesterfield's strong attack should have too much for the Robins. However, their struggles at home, including back to back defeats to Shrewsbury and Oldham, give me pause.

Oldham have another tricky away game, this time down in Essex against Colchester. It'll be a tough one for them, as whilst Colchester's play-off dream looks all but over, they are still a hard team to beat, especially on their own patch. After having their confidence dented by the Alex, the Latics could find this another difficult afternoon.

Walsall, like Grimsby and Chesterfield, have a kind looking home game with Gillingham, who have gone 5-8-12 in their last 25 games. Relegation form. The Saddlers are unbeaten under Darren Byfield and they'll be feeling confident to keep that run going in this one.

Finally Barnet. They have a tough London derby at home against league leaders Bromley. The Bees though are on a high after knocking off Cambridge and MK Dons in back to back games, but Bromley will be smarting after their collapse at struggling Barrow, so will be looking to put things right.

Predictions:

Grimsby Town 2-0 Harrogate Town

Chesterfield 3-2 Cheltenham Town

Colchester United 1-1 Oldham Athletic

Walsall 2-1 Gillingham

Barnet 0-0 Bromley

Ref Watch

Oliver Mackey

Mackey is completing his first full season in he EFL after starting to step up last season. He's not a pure rookie, but he's also not that experienced either. He's never done a Crewe game, so he gets a clean slate.

2025-26 Record: 22 games(3 League One, 10 League Two, 7 National League, 2 League Cup), 88 yellows, 2 reds

Last Game: Barnet 1-2 Newport County, EFL League Two, 14th March 2026, 3 yellows

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Injuries/Absences

Accrington

Isaac Heath, Alex Henderson, Conor Grant, Charlie Caton and Liam Coyle all missed Accy's defeat at Bristol Rovers last week, so their availability for this game is questionable.

Crewe Alex

Calum Agius is back from his stint with the Wales U21s. Lee Bell confirmed Conor Thomas is a few weeks away whilst Mickey Demetriou is being assessed. Shilow Tracey is close to being considered, but I get the sense he's still a week or two away. There was no update on Jack Lankester and why he was withdrawn at half time against Oldham. I'm hoping for the best but fearing the worst with him.

Team

Going on a worse case basis and assuming that Demetriou and Lankester don't make it for this game, it'll leave them light on depth, but still with a good enough starting XI to hopefully get the job done.

Pond and Connolly would continue in defence, with Hutchinson and Billington out wide. In midfield Sanders would start alongside Holicek once again. Then it would be Agius back on his familiar LW, O'Reilly central and March shifting right, with Tezgel leading the line as usual. Those 3 behind Tezgel could all interchange, such as Agius playing left, March right and O'Reilly down the middle.

Score Prediction

A win. It has to be a win. I don't care how scrappy and ugly it has to be, just get the 3 points. Obviously if they can do it in relative ease by several goals, great, but I'll take the jammiest 1-0 you've ever seen at this stage. I think Accy will cause them some problems, but they will just about emerge with the win.

Accrington Stanley 1-2 Crewe Alexandra