Lee Bell blasts Harvey Davies boo-boys after Crewe’s draw with Accrington

Posted Sunday, December 17, 2023 by PA

Crewe boss Lee Bell slammed the fans who booed young goalkeeper Harvey Davies after his mistakes helped Accrington stage a late fightback in a 3-3 draw at Gresty Road.

Davies, 20, was caught out by Ben Woods’ ambitious long-range drive which found the corner of the net for Stanley’s equaliser in the 87th minute.

The keeper then failed to hold a cross-shot, which bounced in front of him, and Josh Woods forced the ball in to put the visitors ahead in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Crewe had been down to 10 men after skipper Luke Offord’s sending off in the 80th minute but they still managed to salvage a point with a stunning finish from Elliott Nevitt, with the striker breaking away and finding the top corner with a blistering finish in the eighth minute of added-on time.

The home side had twice led through goals from Aaron Rowe and Mickey Demetriou, which sandwiched Jack Nolan’s equaliser, but are now without a win in their last three games.

Bell said: “Our keeper has had a tough afternoon but I was really disappointed with the reaction and what happened afterwards. He is working so hard to improve and he is a smashing fellow.

“It shouldn’t happen at any stadium that reaction to any of your own players.

“I would say the fans should back their players when they make mistakes and if they want to vent their feelings they can come to me afterwards – I thought the reaction was poor.

“But there was a lot of time added on by the referee and it gave us time to get an equaliser, which was an unbelievable finish from Elliott. He deserved a chance to start and he took it with a great goal.

“I am really relieved to get a point but looking back over the whole game we should have won.

“The goals we conceded were highly avoidable but the endeavour of the players showed through and we got a point out of it which shows the character we have got within the group.”

Stanley boss John Coleman was proud of his side’s second-half showing but was left seething about their failure to defend the long ball from which Nevitt went on to score.

“It feels like a defeat even though I thought we were outstanding in the second half with the way we pinned Crewe back,” said Coleman.

“The only shot on target they had then was the last kick of the game. But we only have ourselves to blame for that as we didn’t defend the long ball.

“However, considering the amount of injuries we’ve got – and we’ve now lost Joey Pritchard to injury – the young players have done very well.

“The average age of the team is around 22 but we took the game to Crewe. We can be proud of the way we played and the way we dragged ourselves back into the game.

“It is hard to be critical but I am seething with their goal and so disappointed we couldn’t defend that.”