Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell admits it was certainly one point gained after his Alex side held out a dominant Bury in the second half to earn a 1-1 draw.

Crewe led at the break thanks to Charlie Kirk’s fourth goal of the season, but we were penned back by Nicky Maynard’s close range finish 10 minutes into the second period. Crewe then had goalkeeper Ben Garratt for making some outstanding saves to deny Maynard, Thompson and substitute Dom Telford.

Following the 1-1 draw with our North West rivals, Artell told the club’s official website: “It is tough going when you don’t have a number of our players at it. I am not sure it is mentally at home, because we have done well at home this season.

“Today, we were not really good. The performance wasn’t good enough and we cannot rely on others to do it. Some of them are thinking they can be 6/10 as long as someone else is 8/10. It doesn’t work like that. We are not Manchester City. We are Crewe Alexandra and we are fighting.

“You could argue that it is a great point and it is. The positive is that it is still only two goals conceded but that is about it.

“We deserved a point at Lincoln but didn’t get it. We didn’t deserve one today and got it. You don’t always get what you deserve.

“It hasn’t had a lot at home this season. The second half against Port Vale was disappointing but there was still a purpose and belief in that performance. Today, we weren’t good.

“We said to them at half-time, the good news is we are in the lead because we haven’t played well.

“We scored a really good goal and we have done some work on that, the patterns and where you should be and where you should end up. It showed.

“In the second half, we didn’t keep the ball as well as we have been doing, especially at home. We have been good in recent weeks. We played better at Notts County, did well against Swindon and played well at Lincoln but today, we didn’t. "

He added: "Ben and George, along with Perry were our best players. They kept us in it really and credit to them."