Fleetwood Town ended up having to share the points with Crewe Alexandra at The Alexandra Stadium on Boxing Day after their 1-1 draw.
Town took the lead in the game as Wes Burns managed to power through two Crewe defenders and poke the ball under the goalkeeper, but it was a controversial goal by Mikael Mandron which levelled it up on the hour mark in the tightly contested game.
Fleetwood had the first chance of the game and it took 20 minutes to come. Josh Morris found Burns at the back post whose looping across the face of goal bounced off the woodwork and was cleared by the Alex defence.
Moments later, Burns returned the favour when his inviting ball into the box found the outstretched boot of Morris, but his first-time effort went over the bar.
Crewe then went on the attack as Charlie Kirk cut inside and struck the ball from 18 yards towards goal which had to be dealt with by Charlie Mulgrew on the line.
The Cod Army had a penalty shout when after a neat piece of skill to skip through two defenders, Camps appeared to have been tripped in the box, but the referee waved away penalty claims.
Morris was at the heart of the action once again. His freekick was flicked on by Paddy Madden and met by Mulgrew at the back post, who poked the ball home. However, the assistant’s flag was raised for offside.
Callum Camps came close to giving Fleetwood the lead before the break when his driven freekick struck the chest of Crewe goalkeeper Will Jaaskelainen before bouncing back out into play, but Fleetwood weren’t able to take advantage of the loose ball.
Just minutes into the second half, Burns latched onto a ball over the top, squeezing between two defenders and poking the ball under Jaaskelainen to break the deadlock.
Josh Morris’ teasing corner caused confusion in the box amongst the Crewe defence. Madden saw his shot blocked, as did Burns before the ball was cleared.
On the hour mark, Mandron found the equaliser for the home side amidst protests from the Fleetwood backline as the forward seemed to be in an offside position and looked to have used his hand. The referee looked and decided the goal would stand.
Fleetwood almost regained their one-goal advantage when Danny Andrew’s curling freekick had Jaaskelainen scrambling across his goal and almost nestled in the back of the net.
Crewe XI: Jaaskelainen (GK), Pickering (C), Wintle, Kirk, Mandron, Finney (Lowery 78), Johnson, Offord, Dale (Powell 78), Murphy, Beckles.
Subs not used: Richards (GK), Porter, Zanzala, Adebisi.
Town XI: Leutwiler (GK), Edwards, Andrew, Connolly (C), Whelan, Burns (Coutts 72), Camps, J.Morris (Duffy 72), Mulgrew, Rossiter, Madden (Saunders 78).
Subs not used: Cairns (GK), McKay, Hill, Rydel.