David Artell says his team got a useful run out against AFC Barrow just 24 hours after completing a 10K run at Delamere Forest. The Alex boss utilised his squad in the 1-0 defeat on Saturday and believes that it was a physical challenge for his players to play after a challenging run in heat on the Friday, followed by a coach trip on the Saturday.

Crewe may have lost the game 1-0 thanks to a late tap-in but Artell says he got what he wanted out of the physical test.

He told us: “We played some good stuff at times and it was encouraging to see us do some of the things we practiced and have worked on.

“We haven’t done a lot of team play as yet since we got back, so it was good to see some of the link up play.

“It shows that they gone out and tried some things and that they have learned and listened. We were defensively sound for much of the game and conceded with about 10 minutes left after we had changed the starting XI.

He added: “Conceding late on to Barrow and losing 1-0, doesn’t concern me. I wanted to push them after they did a 10k run in the hot weather. I would imagine Barrow’s players were not running up hills the day before, so it was a good physical challenge for our players.”