Gaffer after morale boosting victory in Johnstone's Paint tie

Steve Davis says Saturday’s ‘embarrassing’ 5-0 defeat at the hands of Swindon Town hurt his pride but he now wants his players to start afresh much in the same way they did last season after losing 5-1 at Brentford. It is still very much early days in the season and Davis is hoping that a positive performance and result against Accrington Stanley will get our season back on track.

Last season, Crewe were well beaten at Griffin Park and then lost their captain Ashley Westwood on deadline day to a late bid from Aston Villa. Crewe went on to finish in the comfort of mid-table and return to Wembley to lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with a 2-0 win over Southend United.

Steve told the club’s web-site: “Every defeat hurts but Saturday was different because it hurt my pride. We didn’t perform and what was even more disappointing was the manner of that defeat. It isn’t often that we go down without a fight and it was a massive wake up call for us.

“We are not going to brush something like that under the carpet. We have got to eradicate the mistakes we are making, individually. If we didn’t make basic mistakes like we did on Saturday then we would have been very much in the game.

“That result and performance has happened and now it is about how we react and go on from here. It hurt the players and we have spoken openly about things. The players are open and honest and they want to put things right.

 “We all need to stick together and at the most important thing at the moment is that we go out and win a game against Accrington. That is what we need to do and then take that into the Peterborough game at the weekend.”