Temporary Crewe boss Dario Gradi would have done his homework before this match – such was the importance of the outcome to two sides propping up League One.

A trip to watch his closest relegation rivals in the flesh would have probably been undertaken before hours spent perusing the scouting reports to identify any chinks in the armour of Martin Allen's side.

What Gradi's preparations did not include, however, were disguising himself as a Cheltenham fan in a bid to infiltrate Allen's special 'Bangers and Mash' night last Monday evening – perhaps they should have.

When fielding questions from an inquisitive audience, Allen was asked why corners very rarely clear the first man in the modern day game. The manager immediately provided a detailed tactical breakdown of what his side try to achieve at their set plays.

It proved to be a description akin to that of a fortune teller as the theory behind Allen's analysis was put firmly into practice on the pitch on Saturday when Drissa Diallo stole in unmarked at the near post to direct a Josh Payne corner past Crewe goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson.

The 47th-minute goal was pretty much how Allen had animatedly explained it word-for-word earlier in the week and the manager was 'pleased' that a set-piece plan had finally come together.

What was probably more pleasing for Allen, however, was that the 'brilliant goal' eventually proved to be the decisive one an afternoon where both managers knew that defeat would provide a bitter psychological blow.

"It was a brilliant goal," Allen said. "We work hard on our set-pieces and we haven't had a lot of joy from them lately. It was nice to score off a set play because we put a lot of work into those ."

The success of Allen's set-piece ploy, however, was not the only positive the manager was left to contemplate after a 'great team performance'.

An increasingly miserly defence claimed another clean sheet and Allen was particularly enamoured by the way his side showed composure to get the ball down and play.

It was a marked improvement that may come as a surprise to some when Cheltenham's current lowly league position is considered.

Allen, however, in keeping with his new-found ability to see the future, was not surprised at all.

"I knew things would turn around and I knew things would get better," he explained.

"Once we started getting our good players back I knew that would start to show in our results.

"It has been a great few weeks and now we have some good players coming back, there is a decent little team coming together."

That team managed to avoid slipping to eight points off the relegation zone safety cut-off point, but Allen's mood changed from mystic to spooky when it was suggested that he could now start looking to close the gap on some of their other relegation rivals.

"When I look upwards on a night like this I see the sky and the moon," said Allen. "I suppose we move closer to the sides above us, but worrying about the league table doesn't come into my mindset."

His mindset would have been pretty anxious in the final stages of the game as Cheltenham grimly held onto their one-goal advantage as Crewe poured forward in search of a late equaliser.

Allen's team, though, should probably have had the points signed, sealed and delivered by that time after seeing chances come and go untaken due to a mixture of wayward finishing, bad luck and good goalkeeping.

The visitors suffered a double injury blow inside the first 10 minutes, forced as they were to withdraw striker Calvin Zola and midfielder James Bailey with head injuries to render their pre-match preparations almost useless.

It took Cheltenham 20 minutes to find any sort of rhythm or meaningful sight at goal; Barry Hayles hooking the first chance over the bar after taking a long punt from goalkeeper Scott Brown out of the air expertly on his chest.

Hayles forced another fine save out of Tomlinson before the break and the goalkeeper also held on to long-distance efforts from midfielder Payne and auxiliary striker Scott Murray.

Ashley Vincent then squandered the best chance to give Cheltenham the lead their first-half exploits had warranted when scooping the ball over from close range after a deflected Ian Westlake free-kick fell kindly for him in front of goal.

The striker almost made amends after the restart with two vicious efforts that just cleared the crossbar and Diallo was unlucky not to add to his opener when directing a free header straight at Tomlinson from another menacing set-piece delivery into the penalty area.

Diallo, however, nearly added a black mark to an otherwise deserved man-of-the-match performance when allowing Colin Daniel a free run on goal after a slack piece of defending, but the striker scuffed his finish into the side netting much to the ire of the frustrated Gradi.

Neither midfielder Kenny Lunt nor striker Shaun Miller fared any better when they were presented with similarly good goalscoring opportunities as time began to run out.

Murray almost rubbed salt into the wound minutes after combining with Hayles and Payne in a lightning-quick counter attack ten minutes from time before having the ball nicked off his toe by midfielder Ben Rix.

The on-loan Bristol City man was then frustrated again as Tomlinson got fingertips to another blistering effort, but Cheltenham went unpunished.

"This win will give everybody a lift – there is absolutely no doubt about that," Allen added. "It is important to mention the supporters because they have been really good here. They have been very patient and I am pleased we have managed to get a win for them."

Cheltenham Town (4-3-3): S P Brown; Gallinagh, Diallo, Kenton, Ridley; Payne, Finnigan (Russell 77), Westlake; Murray, Hayles, Vincent (Spencer 64). Subs not used: Puddy, Owusu, Hammond.

Crewe Alexandra (4-3-3): Tomlinson; Brayford, O'Donnell, Baudet, Jones; Bailey (Rix 9), Lunt, Woodards; Miller, Zola (Pope 9), Daniel (Elding 67). Subs not used: Grant, Donaldson.