Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell has told us that Exeter City’s recent form is only a blip and that he fully expects them to recover and maintain their promotion push. Surprisingly the Grecians have won just one of their last nine games in the League and were recently beaten 1-0 at home to struggling Macclesfield Town.

Artell is hoping his side can also inflict a rare home defeat on Exeter this weekend and get our season back on track.

Artell though is an admirer of the way Exeter play and although Matt Taylor has replaced the highly-rated Paul Tisdale as manager, he expects another difficult encounter at St. James’ Park.

Ahead of our trip to Exeter, Artell told crewealex.net: “Exeter are a good side with good players. I am sure that their recent run is just a blip. We will be looking to make sure that continues on Saturday.

“They have a new manager and I’m sure this will be his first sticky patch but he will come through it. They are a stable club. They don’t panic and the support they get is great. They have good players and they will be up there I am sure.

“We know it is a tough place to go and it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination this weekend because they have had a bit of a tough time of it of late.”