David Artell says that his Crewe Alexandra side set a high benchmark with their performance against Notts County on Tuesday night. The Crewe boss was most pleased with the way we stood up to the physicality of Kevin Nolan’s Magpies and the improvement he had been looking for in both boxes was quite evident as we ran out fairly comfortable 2-0 winners.

The result cost Notts County top spot in League Two and Artell says it showed that when we raise our game, we can be a match for anyone.

Ahead of this weekend’s home encounter with Accrington Stanley, Dave told us: “When we perform like we can then we win games. Every time we have performed anything like we should then we usually win the game. That’s the trick, to keep on doing that.

“When they raise their game and stand up to the physicality and become real men in young people’s bodies then I think we are a terrific team. People asked me about pressure but I didn’t feel it because I know what we have that in the dressing room.

“They have just got to believe it more and performances and results against the top teams help with that.

“They were terrific to a man the other night and there were no shirkers and I was delighted they got their reward for the way they played.

He added: “If they perform like that until the end of the season, then I will no issue with them at all. They set the benchmark. They set the standard, not me.”