Needing an Easter weekend to remember, the green and whites fell behind on four minutes thanks to Charlie Kirk.
Dealt an early blow, the Somerset outfit improved as the half wore on but failed to truly test debutant Will Jaaskelainen in the Crewe goal.
An open affair after the restart the Alex had a second goal ruled out by the officials before Adel Gafaiti saw red for an off the ball incident with half an hour still to play.
With an extra man’s advantage, Tom Lowery made it 2-0 less than 10 minutes after the dismissal and it proved to be enough to keep the Somerset outfit entrenched in the bottom two.
Needing to find a winning formula, Neale Marmon made four changes from the side that started last weekend.
Dropping out through injury, Gary Warren swapped captaincy with Omar Sowunmi as the 6’6″ defender made a timely return to the fold following an ankle niggle.
Elsewhere, the central midfield pairing was reshuffled as Alex Pattison and Sessi D’Almeida were recalled from the bench at the expense of Matt Worthington and full-back Daniel Ojo, as Tom James reverted to a more familiar left-back role.
Completing the alterations, top scorer Alex Fisher was preferred up front as Courtney Duffus had to settle for a spot on the substitutes bench.
Despite being bathed in sunshine in Cheshire, the afternoon began under a cloud for the visitors who fell behind inside the opening five minutes.
After initially making a bright start, hesitancy at the back between Bevis Mugabi and Sowunmi allowed Callum Ainley to rob possession on the edge of the box and pick out Kirk in the middle who swept home.
Gifted the lead, the hosts made the opening 20 minutes look comfortable as Town only had tame strikes from Pattison and Alex Dobre to claim in an attacking sense.
Struggling to make the ball stick in the final third, Marmon’s defence had to be on guard as first Ainley had a dangerous cross hacked clear by Gafaiti, before Kirk was denied a second by a Nathan Baxter save.
Living dangerously early on, the green and whites began to warm up in an attacking sense with two chances in quick succession.
Awarded a free-kick 20 yards from goal, Tom James saw his dipping strike graze the top of the net on its way over before Fisher glanced a Dobre cross just wide moments later.
Further strikes came in from Mugabi and James as the half developed but unable to cause Jaaskelainen too much of a headache, the visitors trudged in a goal down at the halfway stage.
Needing to test the young stopper more, it took just two minutes to do so after the restart.
Bursting forward from midfield D’Almeida’s deflected strike to the near post was pushed behind for a corner by the son of former Bolton ‘keeper Jussi.
Played at a much higher tempo than the opening 45 minutes the game opened up and almost changed drastically in the space of 60 seconds.
Thinking they’d taken a 2-0 lead, Kirk’s second of the match was ruled out for offside after initially being given, with the home side’s frustration at the officials almost compounded when Seager forced Jaaskelainen to tip his curling strike over the bar.
Becoming tempestuous, tempers boiled over on 58 minutes when Gafait was given his marching orders for a coming together with Nicky Hunt that was spotted by referee Eddie Ilderton to deal a huge blow to any comeback hopes.
Needing to find goals at the other end, Marmon switched to a back three for the remainder of the match but stretched at the back the Railwaymen doubled their lead on 65 minutes.
Kirk’s cross was initially parried by Baxter but outnumbered in the box, Lowery was on hand to tap into an empty net to seemingly take the game away from the green and whites.
Feeling they had nothing to lose the Glovers remained attack-minded despite their numerical disadvantage, as Crewe almost capitalsed on the break twice through substitute Oliver Finney.
Out on their feet and penned in by the hosts, Town had to produce a back to the wall defensive display to keep the score respectable in the final 10 minutes but couldn’t avoid a defeat that leaves the club’s position precarious in League Two.
Crewe Alexandra: Jaaskelainen; Ng, Sass-Davies, Nolan, Hunt; Wintle, Jones (Finney 68′), Lowery; Ainley (Dale 68′), Porter (Bowery 75′), Kirk.
Bookings:
Subs not used: Garratt, Reilly, Green, Miller.
Yeovil Town: Baxter; Mugabi, Sowunmi, Gafaiti, James; Abrahams (Zoko 75′), Pattison, D’Almeida (Worthington 64′), Dobre; Seager, Fisher (Duffus 64′).
Bookings: Abrahams 55′, Gafaiti 57′ (sent off)
Subs not used: Nelson, Ojo, Santos, Gray.
