Whaley Bridge slumped to their first defeat of the season after a below par performance as they visited Crewe FC.

After finding themselves 2-0 down inside 20 minutes, Dan Christie’s second-half strike was merely scant consolation as the visitors surrendered their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Crewe took the lead through Ryan Cunningham after Whaley failed to react to a quickly taken free-kick and the striker broke free before finishing past James Tattersall.

The home side doubled their advantage soon after when winger Lukasz Synowicz capitalised on Dan Whelan’s error, lashing the ball into the roof of the net.

Manager Jon Brogden had some choice words for his players at the interval which elicited a positive response in the second period as Whaley raised their work rate in an attempt to claw their way back into the game.

Christie latched onto Matt Brown’s clipped pass before firing home off the underside of the bar to open his account for the season.

Despite their best efforts the visitors could not find an equaliser as Crewe held out for maximum points.

Whaley travel to table-toppers Linotype Cheadle on Saturday hoping to become the first side to inflict a defeat upon them this term.

Team:

Tattersall, Gemmell (Brown), Newton, Moss, Whelan, J Burgess (W Bailey), G Burgess, Gregory, Sutton, Christie, Dwolitka

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