George Ray says Crewe have to improve defensive record if we are to make impact in League Two.

August.^thAlex defender George Ray says that Crewe Alexandra will have to ‘work their socks off’ in League Two if we want to be possible promotion candidates. Ray, a former Wales Under-21 International, admits that last season was nowhere good enough as an individual or collectively and he is looking for a vast improvement when we kick off again on 6

Ray told crewealex.net: It wasn’t good enough last season and that is me personally, as well as the team. We were not right for whatever reason and we conceded far too many easy goals.

“That affected the confidence and it made things tough for us. We gave away too many stupid goals that other clubs don’t seem to concede.

“We need to find the answers this season and become much harder to beat. It will be really tough next season, probably harder than this season.

"There will be bigger lads and more direct football, so we have to deal with that style.

"The pitches won't be as good, it is more physical and we all need to work on that.

George added: "Being competitive, that is what you have to be in League Two. We need to try to forget about it as much as we can, rebuild in pre-season, get some wins in and be harder to beat."