David Artell says there were more positives than negatives to take from this evening’s Carabao Cup tie. Ryan Wintle had given Crewe the lead just after the half an hour mark but that was cancelled out by substitute Jason Holt early in the second half.

Crewe held an impressive League One side to a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes, but were denied a possible lucrative tie in the second round after losing a penalty shoot-out 4-3. James Jones struck the crossbar before Perry Ng saw his effort brilliantly saved by Alex Cairns.

Following our League Cup exit, Artell said: “It was a much better performance than Saturday and I didn’t think there was much to choose between the two sides. They had the better of the early parts of the first and second half and would say they had some chances. We had some chances too and found ourselves in some good positions but we just lacked that final ball. Ryan could have won it in the final minute.

“It was nip and tuck and a draw was probably the right result after the 90 minutes. We didn’t play well enough on Saturday and got nothing from the game when we should have had. We played well tonight and we would have got something from the game over 90 minutes.

“I didn’t think we deserved to win but we didn’t deserve to lose it either. It was a good game with both teams trying to play the right way.

“It had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out and the deciding factor was the penalty save from Perry Ng. It was a worldie save, really top drawer.

He added: “Jonah’s  penalty was six inches too high and it hadn't been would have ended up like Pickering’s.”