On arrival in Crewe there was word coming through of major rail disruptions with overhead lines down and the wind causing untold grief. At least it wasn't the wrong type of snow this time.
Gresty Rd and Crewe in general was being buffered (rail joke) by ferociously high winds. The first half of the match kicked off with City playing with the wind behind them but time and time again balls just floated out of play and three match balls disappeared out of the stadium.
City were on top and restricted Crewe to only a couple of first half chances. The high winds means the ball continually returned towards the Crewe goal and it was a great debut from new keeper Williams in the Railwaymens goal.
He made several sharp saves and catches with one particular three save moment when he kept out Vidmar, Robinson and Earnie with successive blocks. Many times from dead ball situations the ball would be blown along the ground. Any goal kicks ended up putting the keeper under pressure as the ball hung in the air before dropping back in the direction it came from.
City gave the goal a fair pasting but the keeper was strong and looked good on his debut.
The second half saw a slight improvement in the wind. It was still there and at times still as strong but there was a definate improvement.
City were being subjected to some pressure but Crewe were not able to create too many chances. Margetson did not have to make the same amount of saves the Crewe keeper did in the first half. Crewe went close a couple of times with one header grazing the post.
Cardiff were consistent with a cracking return for James Collins. Ginge made no mistake with header after header away. Richard Langley did not go missing despite recent critisism and had a good game, he made one particular tackle right in front of us and shaved the bar with a second half free kick.
City's goal came in the 70th minute and I have full sympathy for the Crewe keeper. Gary Croft lobbed a ball towards goal and despite the best efforts of the wind it remained on a straight path and dropped over the keepers head. The ball struck the post and rebounded against the stunned stopper and he could do little but despairingly dive as it rolled over the line. John Robinson (who saw the keeper make a superb first half save against him) slammed the ball into the net but it was already over the line.
City saw out the game with Crewe not having the ability to force any major concerns on the City defence.
A welcome three points that still allows the more optimistic amongst us try try and calculate how many more games we'd need to win to make the play offs but more importantly we are now on 52 points and while not mathematically safe from the drop it would take a miracle to see us go down.
On arival back at Crewe station we find the tannoy announcer telling people to go home as all trains are cancelled. We took a short break before finding a departure to Hereford, a bus to Abergavenny and another train to Cardiff.
Steve Martin and John Candy didn't have to make so many changes.