Crewe’s play-off hopes hit by defeat at Accrington

Quickfire second-half goals from Freddie Sass and Seamus Conneely dented Crewe’s play-off hopes as they lost 2-0 to Accrington.

The Railwaymen dropped out of the top seven with the defeat against Stanley, who had not won in eight League Two games.

Neither side carved out many clear-cut opportunities in the first half.

Stanley had more of the chances, with their best coming in the 27th minute when forward Shaun Whalley’s long-range strike took a deflection to fly inches wide.

The Reds opened the scoring after 51 minutes when Whalley’s corner was fired home by defender Sass from eight yards out for his first Stanley and EFL goal.

It was two five minutes later as Dan Martin beat the offside trap to set up Conneely 20 yards out and he rifled the ball low past Ian Lawlor for his first of the campaign.

Captain Conneely headed against the crossbar as Accrington looked for a third, while Emre Tezgel had a header ruled out for offside for Crewe.