Crewe Alexandra 3-0 Bristol Rovers
- Published
Crewe kept up their march towards the League Two play-off places with victory over Bristol Rovers.
AJ Leitch-Smith's deflected effort and a Kevin Mellor header put the hosts 2-0 up inside the first six minutes.
Eliot Richards curled an effort wide for the visitors and was also denied by keeper Steve Phillips, who did well to deny Gary Sawyer's fine strike.
Harry Davis sealed the win from the spot after Cian Bolger brought down Nick Powell in the penalty area.
The Alex, now unbeaten in 12 league games, are still eighth in League Two, but have now drawn level on points with seventh-placed Oxford United.
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Crewe manager Steve Davis told BBC Radio Stoke:
A good solid performance - Davis
"We stressed the importance of starting well as always and felt that getting that first goal would be important, and we got that early.
"We got the penalty, Harry stuck it away and that pretty much killed off the game really because it went a bit flat after that.
"It was always going to be a difficult game but I thought the lads did well and performed excellently under pressure."
Bristol Rovers manager Mark McGhee told BBC Radio Bristol:
Crewe 'best in league' - McGhee
"I've said before that Crewe are the best team I've seen in this league all season - they certainly didn't disappoint.
"We gave them a hell of a lot of help with the first two goals but that aside, you've got to say they were the better team.
"But within that, we had one or two players who did well. Aaron Downes came back and he was playing against a good forward line but really did quite well.
"But generally they looked far more connected and cohesive than we did and it gave us a lesson in how far we've still got to go."