David Artell says his side will have to match Cheltenham'sa work ethic

David Artell wants his Crewe Alexandra side to show the ‘ugly side of the game’ to make sure they pick up a positive result against Cheltenham Town this weekend. 

Crewe have failed to beat Gary Johnson’s side in three previous meetings this season and the Robins impressively won 4-1 at Gresty Road in the FA Cup back in November.

 Artell is hoping to secure his first win as a manager after succeeding Steve Davis earlier in the month.

Ahead of our home game against Cheltenham, David Artell told us: “Crewe sides are not renowned for doing the other side of the game. The ugly side, where you have to win your personal battles and earn the right to play your football.

“Every team at whatever level you play at has a spell in games. It happened when I was a player. Even when I played for Gibraltar against Germany, we had good spells of possession in the game. When you are on top in games, you have to take your chances and be clinical because goals change games.

“If we had scored at Doncaster at 1-1 and when we were 2-1 down then it could have been very different. We didn’t take them and didn’t do well enough defending our box either. We have to do better and we have to stand up and be counted. 

He added: “It is not easy to change the mind-set of players, especially in a short space of time but that is what I will aim to do going forward. We have to.”