David Artell is pleased that Crewe Alexandra would have another home tie to contend with if we can negotiate our way past Blackburn Rovers in next week’s replay. Crewe or Blackburn have been drawn against Championship side Hull City in the third round draw.

Crewe staged a fantastic comeback to fight back from 3-0 down at Ewood Park on Sunday and there were both positives and negatives to take from the FA Cup thriller.

Artell said: “We were simply awful in the opening 20 minutes and they found it very tough. We had a young back four and they didn’t know what had hit them but they showed some great character to get back into the tie.

“If I’m being honest their indiscipline has cost them. The penalty and the red card got us back in the game and we grew into the game.

“To score three goals away from home against a team that is from a league above and who have players worth millions is no mean feat. We had chances to go on and score the winner but we live to fight another day.

“I thought they gave it a real good go and it wasn’t for the want of trying. It could have been even better for us but it could have been far worse.

The boss added: “We were in the hat and would have another home game but we have a very tough replay next week.”