INCONSISTENT Leeds United missed a great chance to catch the coat-tails of

the play-off hopefuls as they slithered to a 2-0 defeat against Crewe at rain-lashed Elland Road.

Goals from in-form Dean Ashton and Mark Rivers extended Alexandra's unbeaten run to eight games and propelled them to eighth place.

It was a bit of a smash-and-grab job as Leeds, fresh from back-to-back wins over Sunderland and Plymouth, dominated possession but could not take their chances.

Crosses were continually whipped in to the Crewe box, particularly from the twinkling feet of Aaron Lennon but Leeds were punished for lapses of concentration in defence.

With Brian Deane ruled out for six weeks with a shoulder injury, Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell rapidly drafted in Nathan Blake from Leicester to enable him to continueing his 4-5-1 formation.

While Blake held the ball up well and was able to link play he rarely looked like scoring while at the other end Ashton was a continual threat despite seeing far less of the ball.

Leeds began in confident manner, all movement and slick passing, but were rocked when Crewe took the lead against the run of play. They were caught out by Kenny Lunt's corner and Ashton lashed in his 19th goal of the season.

Ashton is destined for the Premiership, if not later this month than at the end of the season, according to his manager Dario Gradi who will not entertain any talk of his side gaining promotion to the Premiership.

The Railwaymen made the most of limited possession, picking their way through the sticky surface in the middle of the park with neat, short, sharp passing while United's best attacking outlet was the twinkling feet of Lennon.

United's directors rejected a £250,000 bid for Lennon from a Premiership club last week and Blackwell said: "The board are dealing with transfers and I am pleased that they've said Aaron is staying. Hopefully that will remain the club's policy if finances allow."

The 17-year-old was a tricky as a net of eels and drew two fine saves from Clayton Ince as well as providing a string of crosses into the box. They zipped high and low across the Crewe area but no Leeds player seemed to have the conviction to get on the end of them.

The pattern of play cried out for David Healy, who had an off-day on the left, to be switched into the middle to put his finishing skills to greater use.

Crewe have improved defensively in recent weeks and always kept calm despite mounting pressure from a Leeds outfit who grew ever more desperate when Mark Rivers made it 2-0 after the home defence failed to clear a free-kick.

Blackwell quickly introduced Icelandic international midfielder Gylfi Einarsson, but he was unable to have much influence of proceedings as Crewe held out comfortably.

Gradi even had the luxury of withdrawing star man Ashton before the end and his replacement Luke Varney posed United problems with his pace on the break.

Paul Butler, having already been booked for a foul, earned a second yellow and dismissal near the end when he brought down Varney.

That ruled him out of today's game at Coventry, which Gary Kelly also misses through suspension, and next Saturday's FA Cup tie at Birmingham.

The recruitment of Blake shows that Blackwell believes that Michael Ricketts

cannot adequately fill the Deane role, but at some stage he needs to try Healy as an out-and-out striker.

The Northern Ireland international looked frustrated stuck on the flank and

a switch to 4-4-2, pairing him with Blake, may have been a better option after Crewe doubled their lead.

Blackwell said: "I have complained about our luck in recent matches but this

was not a case of bad luck.

"It was about the strikers not having the balls to go in and get hurt. It was a lack of tenacity. We were naive in defence and it cost us."

Updated: 08:56 Monday, January 03, 2005