Accrington had Harvey Rodgers sent off as their poor run continued with a 2-0 loss at Crewe

Omar Beckles made the most of a mistake by on-loan Chelsea keeper Nathan Baxter to score his first goal for the Railwaymen against his former club and Chris Porter applied a simple finish for the second late on as Dave Artell’s side put two consecutive away defeats behind them.

Dion Charles carved out an early chance for Stanley, pulling the ball back invitingly for Adam Phillips who drilled his finish the wrong side of the post.

Porter was inches away from applying a far-post finish to Harry Pickering’s driven low cross.

But it was defender Beckles who showed composure to side-foot a firm finish in the 32nd minute after Baxter spilled Charlie Kirk’s low cross.

Stanley’s hopes were hit further when fullback Rodgers was dismissed five minutes into the second half, stretching his leg out desperately in an attempt to thwart Kirk, who was bearing down on goal.

Porter should have meted out further punishment when put clear in the box, but he shot too close to Baxter before Tommy Lowery thumped the rebound on the post.

Stanley were offered to chance to level by home keeper Dave Richards with Colby Bishop seizing the ball and setting up David Morgan and Tariq Uwakwe whose efforts were blocked.

Crewe also wasted chances to extend their lead through Porter and Mikael Mandron and needed Porter’s 79th-minute finish to make the game safe with the striker tapping in Lowery’s low pass inside the six-yard box.