Boss says it was a risk to let Ryan leave in the Window but he is pleased with the way things went.
David Artell believes his transfer window gamble paid off. The Alex boss decided to allow his leading scorer, Ryan Lowe, return to Bury after the veteran forward expressed a desire to move back to Gigg Lane just days after Steve Davis left the club.
Artell walked into his first major decision and agreed that the 37-year-old could only re-join the Shakers if he found a suitable replacement.
Jordan Bowery arrived on loan from rivals Leyton Orient and his presence certainly helped Chris Dagnall and George Cooper find the net more regularly. Although Bowery registered just two goals himself, the flexibility of the front three certainly made Crewe more of a threat in the final third.
Artell explained to crewealex.net: “It was a risk to let Ryan leave in January but he said he wanted to leave and I didn’t want players here who didn’t want to be here. I didn’t stand in his way but I told him I wanted a replacement first.
“It wasn’t easy to let your leading scorer to leave but I knew how good Daggers is from playing against him and I knew that if we get a different type of forward to help him, he would start scoring again.
“Ryan and Daggers were quite similar and were often isolated up there. We switched to 4-3-3 and Jordan has been a great foil for the likes of Daggers and George. He has helped them by occupying the centre-halves and working hard for the team.
He added: “Jordan has not scored as many goals for us as he would have liked, and he has to add that to his game but he has been terrific for us.”