Emre Tezgel completed his hat-trick late on as Crewe recovered from a rocky start to beat Grimsby 3-2 in League Two.
The Stoke loanee deftly glanced inside the far post from Max Sanders’ bending ball three minutes from time to reward Alex’s edging of an open but sometimes-scruffy second half.
It was 2-2 at the break, with Tezgel and Jamie Walker both bagging braces.
Justin Amaluzor’s clever reverse pass allowed Walker to tuck past the exposed Tom Booth and hand Grimsby a sixth-minute lead.
A slip at the other end changed the momentum 27 minutes in, Tommi O’Reilly pinching possession from Cameron McJannet and nudging left for Tezgel to stroke low into the far corner.
Crewe led 10 minutes later, O’Reilly recovering a ball from the left that had evaded all to square for Tezgel who swept in from close range.
But Grimsby kept coming and Amaluzor bustled past Charlie Finney for the stretching Walker to roll the equaliser inside the far post a minute into first-half stoppage time.
Tezgel had a far-post header from a corner cleared off the line by Kieran Green five minutes after half-time but he had the last laugh in the 87th minute.
