David Artell believes that our first away win of the season at Tranmere in the Checkatrade Trophy should provide renewed confidence when we travel to Cheltenham Town this weekend.

Crewe fought back gallantly to win 4-3 in our Football League Trophy opener and Artell says that we demonstrated the power of momentum to turn that result around in our favour. 

Crewe had trailed 3-1 with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to Whaddon Road, Artell said: “It is important in the cut and thrust of a game that the players think for themselves. They have to build their own momentum, especially away from home when there are fewer of our fans.

“They have to recognise what they are doing well and keep going. That is when you turn the screw and if they get joy from something, they have to keep doing it. If the opposition stop that then try something different. That’s it.

The boss added: “It happened at Tranmere. They recognised that if we passed the ball better and made better decisions, we had a great chance to get back into the game. That is what happened. They did that and we deserved to win in the end because we showed the gulf between the two teams in the last 25 minutes or so.”