David Artell is looking for his Crewe Alexandra side to build on Wednesday night’s promising performance against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup and take that into this weekend’s clash with Crawley.

The Alex exited the competition 1-0 thanks to Danny Graham’s finely taken goal on 23 minutes, but Artell was pleased with the way his team rallied against a strong opponent and tried to play the right way.

He had asked for a vast improvement with the ball after a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Cheltenham Town and late chances for Chris Dagnall and Jordan Bowery against Rovers could have forced 30 minutes of extra-time.

The Alex boss told crewealex.net: “The target is three points. That doesn’t change and if we play our football and do the ugly side of the game well, then we win the game.

“We played much better football against Blackburn on Wednesday night. They were a very good side and the best team we have faced by a country mile. They were exceptional for the first 30 minutes at Ewood Park and we struggled to get the ball off them at times on Wednesday night.

“Blackburn are expected to win promotion to the Championship. They have one of the biggest budgets in League One and their players are on small fortunes and we went close. We had two good chances in the final 15 minutes and on another night one of those go in and we have extra-time.

“It wasn’t to be but I was pleased with the way we tried to get on the ball and pass it. We played in the right manner and that is what I asked of them after what I thought was an unacceptable 60 minutes at Cheltenham where we didn’t play out.

He added: “I told the players afterwards that if we play that way in League Two then we will get even more chances and if we take them then we will win games. That is the positives we have to take from Wednesday and now we have to follow it up.”