David Artell has praised his side’s defensive improvement this season and says that our ability to keep clean-sheets is giving us a great chance of collecting more points. Crewe have conceded just 13 league goals from our opening 14 matches and of course six of those came in one game against Colchester United.

Following another shut-out and 1-0 win at Stevenage, the Alex boss said: “We thoroughly deserved to win on Saturday. We had more of the ball and had the better of the chances. We should have scored more than the one goal. It was a great goal from Jordan to win the game.

“It was another clean-sheet for us. I think that is six for the season already and if you take the six we conceded at Colchester out of the equation then we would be right there for one of the best defensive records in the league.

“I know you cannot do that because we were terrible at Colchester and it happened. The clean sheet record is a decent return and if we can get it right at the other end of the pitch then it gives us a great platform.

“We have done a lot of work on the defending and it is pleasing to see it pay off. It isn’t just about the goalkeeper, who is playing exceptionally well, and the back players, but the whole team. Charlie, Jonah and Callum all have strong attacking instincts but they have become more reliable in their defending. They all did well with that at Stevenage and it helped us get the result.

“It is all about getting that balance right to make sure that they can also creative and get us a goal to make sure we win the game.”