Crewe..2 MK Dons..2

9:08am Tuesday 21st October 2008

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'HOLLAND out'.

The Alex boss admitted he understood why a bold red and white banner made fleeting appearances in the Gresty Road End last Saturday.

And he didn’t like it either.

A point against early top-six contenders MK Dons just about quelled the minority prepared to voice their opinions over Crewe’s current predicament.

The disgruntled majority pondered just how the club moves away from all the doom and gloom of recent seasons.

One thing is for sure; it doesn’t get any easier when you keep blowing points on your own turf.

Like Southend, Holland should have been relishing a morale-boosting victory only to see his side hit the self-destruct button once more.

His tough afternoon was all set to get tougher just 15 minutes in.

Restored at the back with Julien Baudet, Dennis Lawrence hardly instilled any confidence into the side as Mark Wright punished some sloppy play.

Peter Leven moved on to his ball down the middle before squaring to SamBaldock who finished in some style into the bottom corner.

Moans, groans and the odd chant against Holland began but Crewe brought a halt to it all with an impressive turnaround.

Back from International duty, Michael O’Connor is becoming an integral figure in today’s Alex and led the fightback with a 20-yard smashed over the bar.

The Northern Irish youngster then set Calvin Zola free down the right but a golden chance flew wide with just Willy Gueret to beat.

Having incurred some wrath with stray passes, Mark Carrington hit back with the equaliser as visiting centre-half Sean O’Hanlon diverted his cross beyond Gueret on 32 minutes.

Revitalised, Crewe poured forward with both full debutant Clayton Donaldson and Shaun Miller forcing decent saves out of the keeper.

And it paid off two minutes before the break when Zola flicked on a Danny Woodards delivering and Miller put away the loose ball for 2-1.

Zola could have made it a smooth second-half but fluffed his one-on-one six minutes into the restart.

While former target Nick Chadwick saw one deflected effort sail wide, the Dons produced little despite a stranglehold of the ball.

But you got the sense there were some tiring Alex legs out there just before the leveller came on 78 minutes.

Sub Kevin Gallen’s left-sided cross to Chadwick looked offside but a deflected effort beat Steve Collis at his near post and the flag stayed down.

While Tom Pope and Byron Moore were promptly through on, Gallen could have made things far worse but put a sitter wide to spare Holland grief.

The next couple of games look crucial.

Crewe: Collis, Woodards, Jones, Baudet, Lawrence, Carrington, O’Connor, Bailey, Miller, Zola (Pope 84), Donaldson (Moore 84).

Subs not used Schumacher, Grant, Brayford.

Attendance – 4,055.

Guardian man-of-the-match: Michael O’Connor – coming of age