Steve happy with another hard fought win to take us into the top ten
Steve Davis was a happy man again as his Crewe side fought hard to gain all three points against a tough Carlisle United side. Lauri Dalle Valle headed the only goal of the game just before half time to kick off 2013 with another home win.
After the 1-0 win, Steve told crewealex.net: "As we have been saying there are no easy games and you have to earn every point you get. You have to work hard and play well and I thought in the first half we played some good football without being as threatening as I would have liked. The goal at the end of the half settled us down but we couldn't keep that going in the second half. They did come more into it and had one or two moments but I was still confident we would see it through because we have been defending well.
"Duggy was the unlucky one to miss out but I wanted to change the shape at home. I just thought 4-3-3 at home gives us more attacking options. I didn't have a case to leave any of them out because they had done nothing wrong, but I just felt that Harry and Mark had played most of the season together, so although it was a difficult decision, it was one I had to do.
"I thought we were the better team and deserved to win the game in the end. The goal has come about from a long kick, and a flick and I was encouraging Brad (Inman) to try and get on the end of them. He has got in there forced the goalkeeper to parry it out and Lauri has put it in with a well controlled header. It was a good finish but that it was he his, he is a poacher.
"Lauri always works hard and is a team player. I think he will only get better with the more games he plays because he is only 21 and will improve.
"He has one game of his loan left, so we will have to look at that and decide what we we want to do. We would have to speak to Fulham about that and haven't decided on anything yet.
"We are pleased with the points tally so far and I am delighted with the way we have started the New Year. We want more of the same throughout the year. I have set the players high standards and we want to keep moving forward as a club."
After the 1-0 win, Steve told crewealex.net: "As we have been saying there are no easy games and you have to earn every point you get. You have to work hard and play well and I thought in the first half we played some good football without being as threatening as I would have liked. The goal at the end of the half settled us down but we couldn't keep that going in the second half. They did come more into it and had one or two moments but I was still confident we would see it through because we have been defending well.
"Duggy was the unlucky one to miss out but I wanted to change the shape at home. I just thought 4-3-3 at home gives us more attacking options. I didn't have a case to leave any of them out because they had done nothing wrong, but I just felt that Harry and Mark had played most of the season together, so although it was a difficult decision, it was one I had to do.
"I thought we were the better team and deserved to win the game in the end. The goal has come about from a long kick, and a flick and I was encouraging Brad (Inman) to try and get on the end of them. He has got in there forced the goalkeeper to parry it out and Lauri has put it in with a well controlled header. It was a good finish but that it was he his, he is a poacher.
"Lauri always works hard and is a team player. I think he will only get better with the more games he plays because he is only 21 and will improve.
"He has one game of his loan left, so we will have to look at that and decide what we we want to do. We would have to speak to Fulham about that and haven't decided on anything yet.
"We are pleased with the points tally so far and I am delighted with the way we have started the New Year. We want more of the same throughout the year. I have set the players high standards and we want to keep moving forward as a club."