Crewe Alexandra 0 Swindon Town 0

CREWE Alexandra put a dent in Swindon Town's bid for automatic promotion on Saturday while also edging themselves further away from the drop, writes Jamie Davies.

The sides both finished with 10 men, with Swindon's Michael Smith seeing red before the Alex's Alan Tate picked up his second booking in the 98th minute.

Swindon did sense a taste of glory seven minutes before the interval when Massimo Luongo's shot was parried by the Railwaymen's new goalkeeper Paul Rachubka.

Striker Smith reacted first to finish the rebound, but was ruled offside.

The hosts had chances of their own, substitute Anthony Stewart's close range effort eventually being cleared out of the penalty area.

Seventeen minutes into the first half saw Crewe's Oliver Turton cross from the right flank but the delivery was too high for unmarked Nicky Ajose.

Swindon goalkeeper Wes Foderingham faced a scare on the half-hour mark when a long-range shot from Greg Leigh picked up a defection which nearly crept into the bottom left corner of the net.

Rachubka made his first start for the Railwaymen after number one goalkeeper Ben Garratt suffered a fractured leg at the trip to Barnsley last week.

The former Manchester United youngster had some shaky moments but produced some key saves to help Crewe avoid a third straight defeat.

Steve Davis and his squad will be happy to pick up a deserved point against a club gunning for promotion to the Championship.

It sees the Alex sitting in 18th place, four points clear of the relegation zone.

The setback for Swindon puts them down a place behind Preston North End in fourth, a single point behind MK Dons in the automatic promotion spot.

Crewe Alexandra: Rachubka (GK), Davis (C), Ray, Turton, Jones (Inman 96), Leigh (Guthrie 83), Haber, Ness, Tate, Ajose (Stewart 99), Grant. Subs: Atkinson, Cooper, Waters, Baillie.