Manager encouraged by performance but improvement at both ends still needed

Steve Davis says that Saturday’s overall performance at Notts County has given him some encouragement ahead of tomorrow night’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie at Fleetwood Town. The Alex boss was bitterly disappointed by the 4-0 score line inflicted on his battling Crewe Alexandra side, who certainly created more chances than the home side.

There were more positives to take from the 90 minutes than the 3-0 home defeat to Gillingham the previous week, but the Alex manager is certainly not brushing over the need to be better defensively and more clinical in front of goal.

Steve told Crewe Alex Player: “We had two or three great chances, Max (Clayton) blasted one over the top and we had some parried out from their goalkeeper. It just didn’t go for us and they scored four goals from six shots.

“No game is ever decided on the stats but we didn’t have too much luck either. We were disappointed with the result but encouraged by some of the performances. We couldn’t fault the players for their effort or commitment on Saturday and they were exhausted afterwards after putting so much into it.

Steve added: “We make some mistakes in our defensive third and conceded some silly goals. We also were not clinical enough when we had those chances and haven’t scored but there is something to build on there and I felt better with the performance than I did after the Gillingham game.”