Midfielder Ryan Wintle says that Crewe Alexandra must possess the belief and confidence to go to league leaders Lincoln City on Saturday and achieve that first away win of the season in the league.

Crewe’s solitary away win this season came at Tranmere Rovers in the Checkatrade Trophy. Crewe showed great character that night to come back from 3-1 down to win late on thanks to James Jones tidy finish from Callum Ainley’s pull-back.

Crewe recently picked up our first away point at Cheltenham following a goalless draw, but we narrowly lost 2-1 at Notts County last Saturday. Crewe didn’t deserve to lose at Meadow Lane and Wintle knows that our away form has to improve if we are going to have a successful season.

In contrast, the Railwaymen have an excellent home record, with only one goal conceded to rivals Port Vale last month.

Ahead of our trip to Sincil Bank, Wintle told crewealex.net: “We have to have a strong belief and confidence to believe that we can go to Lincoln and get a result.

“We did that last season when he played really well and won 4-1. We have to believe that we can go there again and believe in ourselves that we can get results away from home.

“We showed we can do it at Tranmere in the cup. Not many Crewe sides come back from 3-1 to win the game, so that gave us confidence.

“Lincoln are going well and they will throw everything at us. In those moments, we have got to be solid and stand up to that. If we can then there is no reason why we cannot get a result.

He added: “We want more points on the board and we will only do that by playing well as a team.”