Tranmere Rovers picked up three points in Northern Group B of the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday night against Crewe Alexandra.
Micky Mellon fielded a mainly inexperienced team for the fixture at the Mornflake Stadium with the hosts only making four changes from Friday’s game.
A second half strike by substitute Elliott Nevitt was enough to see off The Alex for the second time in five days.
Rovers started brightly when Arthur Lomax, making his full debut for Rovers, cut inside from the right and unleashed a powerful shot which forced Richards to palm over his bar as the ball headed for the top corner.
Dan Agyei looked to be the main threat for the hosts and he found space in behind after Hockenhull lost his balance under the flight of the ball before recovering well and blocking Agyei’s low shot for a corner.
Hockenhull was there again not long after as Finney found space on the edge of the box and fired low however the defender got his body in the way to divert it off target.
On the 36th minute, Kyle Jameson paced forward from left back and beat his man before whipping in a dangerous cross into the box. A combination of Burton and Lomax flung themselves at the ball but a red shirt got between them to flick the ball away for a corner.
The sides went into the break with not a great deal of goal mouth action for either team.
Crewe came out for the second half with more energy and started on the front foot. Joel Tabiner drove forward from midfield and shot from 25 yards which whistled past Hewelt’s left hand post.
Agyei was next to try his luck when he picked the ball up on the right hand side, cut onto his left foot and curled an effort just past the far post.
On the hour mark, Hewelt was called into action to keep the deadlock unbroken. Finney was left unmarked at the back post inside the Tranmere box and his downwards header was kept out by the quick reactions of Hewelt’s feet.
Just after coming on as a substitute, Elliott Nevitt burst through on goal and just got to the ball before Richards before attempting to lift the ball over him but the keeper spread himself well to keep it out.
Nevitt wasn’t to be denied though and just five minutes later, he had his goal. Picking the ball up in a good position, he knocked the ball past McDonald and fired underneath Richards to give Rovers the initiative heading into the final 15 minutes.
Rovers nearly had a second just few minute later. Nolan played a neat pass through to Taylor, also making his full debut, who tried to poke it underneath the onrushing Richards in the Crewe goal but the keeper pounced on the ball to deny him.
As the four minutes of added time ticked away, Hewelt had to make one last smart save to preserve the win. Tabiner’s swerving drive was parried away by Hewelt before Agyei fired the rebound across the face of goal however he was offside regardless.
Rovers claimed all three points in Cheshire and will have to wait to see the outcome of Crewe against Leeds U21s to see their fate in the competition.
Tranmere team: Hewlett, Dacres-Cogley (O’Connor 45’), Hockenhull, Byrne, Jameson (Merrie 56’), Hughes, McAlear, Nolan, Lomax (Hawkes 66), Burton (Nevitt 66’), Taylor (Morris 85’)