Lee Bell hails goalscorer Josh March as Crewe edge out nine-man Crawley
The hosts had Kellan Gordon and Malcolm Ebiowei sent off.
Crewe boss Lee Bell praised Josh March’s battling qualities after the striker’s late goal gave the Alex a 1-0 victory at nine-man Crawley.
March settled the issue in the fifth minute of stoppage time by heading in a cross from Joe Tabiner.
Crewe also had a player red-carded, with captain Mickey Demetriou picking up a second yellow card five minutes from time, and Bell described it as a “bizarre afternoon”.
“March won it with an important goal for us. He keeps going and epitomises what we want to be,” said the Crewe boss.
“It was a crazy game of football. You don’t expect to play against nine men, but we dug in.”
Bell criticised Demetriou for his foul on substitute Pemi Aderoju that got him sent off.
“It was really disappointing. He (Demetriou) knows he’s been daft. It was a real avoidable red card,” said Bell.
“But we kept going and got a late winner. We’ve got a small group, but we will improve as the season goes on.”
Crawley had Kellan Gordon sent off for punching Joe White early in the second half, and Malcolm Ebiowei followed on his league debut for throwing the ball at Calum Agius.
Head coach Colin Kazim-Richards called the dismissals “self-inflicted” but was also adamant there was a foul in the build up to March’s goal.
He said: “Gordon’s sending-off will be dealt with in-house, 100 per cent. But we can’t give opportunities to referees to send off players.
“With 10 men I thought we could do something, but with nine men you give yourself a double mountain to climb.”
Kazim-Richards drafted in keeper Nick Michalski, 19, on loan from Blackburn for his league debut when Vito Mannone failed to appear for the second half due to a hand injury.
The former Arsenal and Sunderland keeper twice required treatment in the opening 18 minutes after heavy collisions, and Kazim-Richards praised his replacement for a “top performance.”
He said: “Nicholas made some great saves and when Pemi Aderoju came on he was an absolute handful. Had we had longer, we could have scored ourselves.”