League leaders Nottingham Forest were back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory
at Crewe thanks to a first half hat-trick from Kevin Campbell.
Forest had been beaten 3-0 by rivals Sunderland in midweek but quickly took
advantage of poor defending by the home side at Gresty Road.
Forest took just ten minutes to take the lead. Chris Bart-Williams, playing up
front in the absence of top scorer Pierre Van Hooijdonk, gave the Premiership
hopefuls the advantage.
Geoff Thomas played the ball into the area and Bart-Williams turned on a
sixpence to open the scoring.
Five minutes later Campbell made it two. French international Thierry Bonalair
surged down the right wing and delivered a perfect cross for the former Arsenal
man to strike from close range.
Forest's frontmen combined well on 25 minutes to stretch the lead to three.
Bart-Williams' through ball found Campbell inside the area and the big striker
made no mistake lifting the ball over the advancing Jason Kearton.
Crewe pulled a goal back after 29 minutes. Gareth Whalley worked his way to
the by-line and crossed for the unmarked Colin Little to head Crewe back into
the game.
But it was to be a short-lived respite. Less than a minute later Campbell
completed his hat-trick when he picked up the ball inside the area and fired
home from close range.
Earlier Crewe could have scored after a dreadful mistake from Forest keeper
Dave Beasant. He completely missed Gareth Whalley's through ball and Kenny Lunt
ran on to slide the ball towards goal but Jon Olav Hjelde made a last ditch
tackle on the line.
Crewe tidied up in the second half and restricted Forest's chances to a
minimum. An Ian Woan free kick was powerfully struck and rattled the Crewe
crossbar.
Kevin Campbell skipped inside Dave Walton to shoot but Kearton made a great
save.
From the following corner, Steve Chettle outjumped Crewe's defence but Kearton
was able to make a comfortable catch.
Seth Johnson should have scored a consolation goal for Crewe. Marcus Bignot
did well to cross from the right wing and Johnson ran into the box but fired
over from close range.
Teams
Crewe: Kearton, Bignot, Smith, Unsworth, Walton, Lunt,
Tierney (Street 68), Whalley, Anthrobus (Moralee 68), Johnson,
Little.
Subs Not Used: Lightfoot.
Goals: Little 29.
Nottm Forest: Beasant, Bonalair, Rogers, Hjelde, Chettle, Thomas,
Stone, Gemmill (Johnson 32), Bart-Williams, Campbell (Moore 86),
Woan (Armstrong 78).
Booked: Hjelde.
Goals: Bart-Williams 10, Campbell 15, 25, 30.
Att: 5,759
Ref: M Fletcher (Warley).
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