Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell says he will continue to push his players hard during pre-season. The Alex boss was keen to give his players a competitive and physical work-out this week and he certainly got that at AFC Barrow and Alsager Town.

They were two tough warm-up games that ended in draws and although physical at times, the Alex boss welcomed the competitive nature of the games.

Artell says it is important for his players to be subjected to that style of play, as they will come up against it this season in EFL League Two.

Artell believes pushing the body will help develop that resilient mind-set.

He told crewealex.net: “The human body is ever so resilient and though you think there's boundaries, when you really push yourself you can go to places you didn't think you could get to. The best time to do that is pre-season.

I”f you know you can break down barriers and become mentally tough, that means hard to beat.

“If you give them the tools to do that, you make sure they can push their bodies.

The Alex manager added: “I'm a big believer that 80% of what you achieve in life is between your ears, I think we are all capable of being whatever we set out to be, but some people have different mind-sets than others.”