Davis questions Haber fitness

Crewe boss Steve Davis questioned the fitness of goalscorer Marcus Haber after the 1-1 draw with Walsall.

The relegation-threatened Railwaymen led through Haber's 13th-minute header, only for it to be cancelled out by a heavily-deflected shot from Tom Bradshaw with 10 minutes left. By that time, a jaded Haber had been replaced by Ryan Colclough as Crewe finished the game penned in their own half. Davis admitted: "I didn't want to take Marcus off as most of what we did was through him. But he was tired after 45 minutes and his legs had gone. "He was excellent, but he can't last the games. "The disappointing thing is we weren't able to sustain our performance. Whether that is down to a nervous energy which saps the players, I don't know. "We were good in the first half and were on the front foot. But that's three games we have ended up drawing (at home)." Crewe started well enough with Nicky Ajose meeting Greg Leigh's cross with a sweet volley which was beaten out by Richard O'Donnell. But they were forced into an early change when midfielder Chris Atkinson was stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder. However, they made light of that blow to take the lead. Haber broke clear and appeared to have wasted the one-on-one with O'Donnell when he whacked his shot onto the post. But Ajose retrieved the ball on the left and hung over a cross from which Haber found the far corner with a downward header. Walsall full-back Andy Taylor should have levelled after he latched onto a loose pass, only to poke his effort wide of the far post. Bradshaw scuffed an effort into the hands of Paul Rachubka and full-back Ben Purkiss drove over the angle. But Bradshaw's deflected effort caught out Rachbuka and spun into the corner of the net to draw Walsall level. Crewe responded with Anthony Grant's blockbuster pushed out by O'Donnell while sub Jordan Cook almost stole a winner for Walsall when he drilled wide of the bottom corner. Walsall boss Dean Smith said: "I wasn't pleased with our first half. But we moved up the tempo and dominated the second half. "Andy Taylor had a great chance to score in the first half. But in the end we got a fortunate goal with the deflection, although we probably deserved it on the balance of the play. Tom will claim it. He's an important part of the team and he's targeting 20 goals for the season. "Crewe can't go above us now and I think other teams would need to win games 7-0. We are pleased we didn't get beaten as we want to keep the momentum going. "We were even pressing for a winner in the end."