CREWE Alexandra shattered Southend United’s hopes of success for the second time in the space of just 10 months this afternoon, winning the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

Last May, the Railwaymen ended the Shrimpers’ hopes of promotion out of League Two by beating them in the semi-finals of the League Two play-offs.

And it was Crewe who again came out on top in the latest big encounter between the two sides with goals from Luke Murphy and Max Clayton denying Southend their first ever success at Wembley.

Phil Brown’s side were roared on by more than 30,000 fans at the home of English football but they were stunned in to silence at the start of the game as Crewe raced out of the blocks.

The League One side started strongly and almost opened the scoring after just two minutes when Byron Moore played in Clayton but his low shot was well saved by the legs of Blues goalkeeper Paul Smith.

But there was nothing Smith could do just four minutes later when Alexandra opened the scoring with a well worked corner, taken by Byron Moore.

His flag kick from the right hand side was dummied by Bradden Inman and that allowed the on rushing Murphy to slam an 18 yard shot in to the top left hand corner of the net.

Crewe remained on top after the early goal before Southend hit back with a trio of corners in quick succession, the third of which, taken by Chris Barker, was headed over by Bilel Mohsni.

Moments later, Ryan Cresswell headed a Kevan Hurst corner straight at Alexandra shot-stopper Steve Phillips and, in the 29th minute, Blues’ shouts for a penalty when Britt Assombalonga went to the ground while under pressure from Mark Ellis were waved away by referee Nigel Miller.

Cresswell then had a looping header from another Hurst corner tipped over by Phillips but the resulting Barker flag kick should have led to a Southend equaliser as an unmarked Tamika Mkandawire headed over from six yards.

The miss increased in significance just three minutes in to the second half when Crewe doubled their advantage, with Clayton on target.

The goal came after Mohsni had conceded possession cheaply in the centre of the park and that allowed Chuks Aneke to play Moore down the right hand side of the penalty area.

He intelligently cut the ball back in to the path of Clayton who hammered home a well placed shot from eight yards.

However, Southend initially rallied well after the goal and came agonisingly close to getting back in to the game when Tomlin burst in to the box and teed up Mohsni whose goalbound header was somehow blocked on the goal-line by Harry Davis.

Blues were then frustrated again just seconds later when Tomlin played in Assombalonga but his neat finish from 12 yards was ruled out for a marginal offside decision.

After that and, with 57 minutes on the clock, Southend boss made a double substitution with Barry Corr replacing Barker and Ben Reeves coming on for Mohsni.

The changes saw Anthony Straker revert to his more usual left-back position and the two new faces were immediately involved as Reeves swapped passes with Tomlin before his deep right wing cross was headed off target by Corr.

The tall Irishman went close to scoring again in the 74th minute with his header from Reeves’ right wing corner was volleyed off the goal-line by Matt Tootle.

Four minutes later, the Shrimpers made their final change with Freddy Eastwood coming on for Mkandawire but it was Crewe who threatened next as Ryan Colclough cut in off the left flank and had a deflected shot impressively tipped over the crossbar by Smith.

The woodwork then also denied the Railwaymen a third goal as substitute Ajay Leitch-Smith slammed an eight yard shot against the crossbar.

But that mattered little as Crewe comfortably saw out the closing stages of the game to ensure Southend United’s first trip to Wembley in 83 years ended in disappointment.