Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell praised his defence after they restricted an in-form Barnet to just a couple of half chances at the weekend. Even the Barnet boss Rossi Eames claimed after his side’s 1-0 defeat that ‘we created nothing’.

Artell was delighted with the club’s first win of the season and even more so after obtaining a first shut-out. Michael Raynes was voted the sponsors' man of the match.

David told crewealex.net: “I was pleased with the clean-sheet. We didn’t really give them a sniff. Raines was a colossus back there for us. Eddie and Brad were faultless.

“The ball was like a magnet to Raines’ head and the other two did a great job sweeping around him. I thought we were comfortable and Ben (Garratt) didn’t have much to do. They threw everything at us in the last ten minutes but other than one that flashed across the box towards the end, we were not that troubled.

“I was pleased for the lads that we got that first win and we limited the opposition to only a couple of half chances.”