David Artell says his Crewe Alexandra side have taken a couple of punches following very different defeats to Colchester and Carlisle - but he says his players are ready to get off the canvas and go again against Cheshire neighbours Macclesfield Town at the weekend.

Crewe suffered a humiliating 6-0 loss at Colchester but performed to a much better standard at Carlisle four days later. Crewe should have been out of sight in the contest with the chances we managed to create, but were rocked by Carlisle winner with just 20 minutes remaining.

It was a harsh lesson in taking our chances when on top in games, but Artell feels there were a lot of positives to take from the response he saw.

Ahead of the Cheshire derby this weekend, the Crewe boss told us: “With the exception of the Colchester performance, we had been in the games and could have won. We had our chances at Newport and missed a penalty there.

“We had chances against the MK Dons but a draw was probably fair and anyone who saw the Carlisle game would say there would have been no complaints if we had scored three or four. We didn’t and we were left to rue those missed chances when they scored with their only proper chance.

“I have been pleased that we have been able to create as many chances as we have but we have to take them.

“That’s us at the moment. We have taken a couple of blows and are bloodied a bit but we will get up off the canvas and go again on Saturday.”