Manager Steve Evans hailed the impact of game-changer John Akinde on Tuesday night.

The big striker came off the bench and with his first touch headed home what turned out to be the winning goal at Crewe.

“He changed the game,” said Evans.

“The boy Omar Beckles, who was very comfortable (in the Crewe defence) all evening, suddenly had an equal physical presence, if not more.

“John won that battle and every time it got to the forward areas John was a handful. Vadaine Oliver (who started the game upfront) ran out of legs, he had nothing left and he played on Saturday as well but Dominic Samuel came on and was nice and fresh.”

Akinde’s goal - his first of the season - came just three minutes after his arrival on the pitch at the Alexandra Stadium.

Evans said: “There was a bit of debate on the bench, about what change we were going to make. I looked at the game and tried to be objective.

“I know the boy Beckles is good, I know him from when he was at Shrewsbury and the big boy alongside him and I thought, ‘what do they not want? They don’t want to see John Akinde running onto the pitch.’

“John is focussed, he was good at Ipswich and unlucky not to start against Sunderland. It meant a lot to him and afterwards when he came into the dressing room, the boys showed how much they love him.”

Akinde hadn’t scored in his previous 14 games this season - although he got a couple in pre-season - but has had some good chances of late, including one off the post against Fleetwood.

“He has been unlucky,” said Evans.

“The match against Fleetwood, when he went through one versus one and it hits the post, it is inches, and if that goes in we win the game and everyone is talking about big John.

“He can play with Vadaine Oliver, which is great, that gives us a real physical presence, we have Dominic, we got Trae Coyle back on the pitch, he has been nursing a calf strain for four weeks now, some days he has not been able to train.

“We got him fully fit over the weekend but he came off (for Akinde) because we needed to go more physical and he also cam off because of his loads and that he might have got another calf strain.”

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Report: Crewe Alexandra 0 Gillingham 1