Steve Davis says his Crewe team made it difficult for themselves after lacklustre first half

He added: "I have shown faith in them and they have produced the standard we have been looking for but only in fits and starts. We need them to be more consistent and it is important we stick together as a group."

"We made some mistakes for the goals and the only one to really reach their potential of performance today was George Ray. I told him that afterwards. I thought he was excellent although it was his clearance that fell to Dack for the opening goal. We cannot have one player out of 11 players playing up to their potential if we are going to get results and the players know that.

"We just couldn't find that finish that would have given us a chance. I took Ollie off at half time because he was tired. To be fair to him he has played every game and throughout pre-season and he needed a break. Granty has come on and given us some life and some legs and we started the second half well for the opening 15 minutes or so.

"What they can't do at the moment is produce that level of performance time and time again. Yes, they are a young group but I can't accept that as an excuse because they have played games and know what it is about now. I said to them if they produce performances like the first half then it is going to be a long hard season for everyone connected with the club. They knew that and to be fair they had a real go in the second half and we had some chances.

Following our 2-0 defeat at Priestfield, the manager told crewealex.net: "It took a roasting from us at half time to get them going because we were lifeless and devoid of ideas in that first half. They looked a bit tired and short on ideas and it is difficult to take after we played so well against Bolton on Tuesday night. We only made one change from that side with Marcus coming in for Vadaine. It was the same group of players and they deserved another go after the well they performed against Bolton.

Steve Davis says that Crewe Alexandra cannot continue to play well enough for just 45 minutes in matches. The Alex boss was left disappointed with his side's first half showing at Gillingham, but was pleased that they responded and had a go at the opposition in the second period without getting that goal that could have changed things.