After last week’s long trip to South Shields, Salop are back on the road again this weekend for another early kick-off.

Fortunately, this one is much closer, with over 1,600 Salopians heading to Cheshire to watch us take on Crewe Alexandra. Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s opponents.  

Key Players 

On-loan striker Emre Tegzel is Crewe’s top scorer this season. Interestingly, he hadn’t scored a league goal for the Railwaymen until their last match against Grimsby. However, the 20-year-old quickly made up for lost time, bagging his second hat-trick of the season, with his first coming in their 7-1 EFL Trophy win against Chesterfield.  

Two of those goals against Grimsby were set up by former Salop loanee Tommi O’Reilly. The Villa youngster has settled in nicely at Gresty Road, scoring twice and getting five assists since joining this summer.  

Another former Salop man who will likely be starting on Saturday is Mickey Demetriou. Demetriou played a key role in our promotion to League One in 2014/15, before spending seven seasons at Newport and becoming a legend at Rodney Parade.  

He is now in his third season at Crewe and continues to be one of the most dependable defenders in the league. He also knows where the net is, scoring Crewe’s goal in their 2-1 FA Cup loss to Doncaster last weekend.  

The Manager 

Lee Bell is one of the longest-serving managers in League Two, having taken charge of Crewe in November 2022. It is the former defender’s first full-time managerial role. In his first full season at the club, he guided the Railwaymen to the play-off final, where they lost 2-0 to Crawley. They finished 13th last season after a poor second half of the campaign saw their promotion push derailed.  

Form  

After a really strong start to the campaign, Crewe come into Saturday’s game on a mixed run of form. Consistency has been the team’s biggest challenge so far this season, with Lee Bell’s men currently sitting ninth in the table. They have won three and lost two of their last five, with their last league outing seeing them beat Grimsby 3-2 at home.  

Head-to-Head Record  

Saturday’s clash will be our 50th competitive match with Crewe. We have a narrow advantage over the Railwaymen over the years, winning 18 of our matches to their 16, with 15 ending in a stalemate. Our last win against them came in 2020, a 4-3 win away from home in the EFL Trophy.