Steve Davis says he struggled to put his finger on why we didn't get going in the first half at Priestfield

Steve Davis admits that his Crewe Alexandra side did not play well enough over the course of the 90 minutes to warrant anything from our trip to Gillingham. Crewe went down 2-0 at the Priestfield Stadium thanks to first half goals from Bradley Dack and Cody McDonald.

McDonald’s second goal on the stroke of half-time gave Crewe a mountain to climb in the second period and although we greatly improved, the damage had already been inflicted.

Steve was disappointed by the first 45 minutes in Kent and says that his players have to hit consistent form to remain as first choice in his side.

The Alex boss told crewealex.net: “I learn a lot every weekend and you spot certain things when you watch the game back on the DVD.

“I thought what I said after the game was fairly accurate. We were not good enough in the first half and we didn’t play well enough to get anything from the game.

“We have to look into the reasons behind why the same group of players, expect the one change, can play so well against Bolton and then perform as they did in the first half at Gillingham. Maybe the extra-time against Bolton took it out of them but that would be an excuse for them and we try and avoid making excuses.

“The second half was much better, with more intensity and urgency.

The boss added: “We went to Gillingham hoping to get our season going. We had won their on our last four visits and it has proved to be a good hunting ground for us in the past but we didn’t get near our Bolton performance.”