David Artell says that our professional performance against Notts County this afternoon was to go some way to say sorry for last weekend’s poor display against Port Vale. Crewe comfortably won 3-0 thanks to goals from Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, Ryan Wintle and James Jones.

Following the 3-0 win over struggling County, the Alex manager told us: “It was a really professional from us. We owed the fans a performance or at least the ones that turned up last week and that was the best way to say sorry for that. That is the truth isn’t it?

“We have played a team against a team a bit down on their luck or down in their spirits but we played some terrific stuff today. They had a chance at 1-0 and maybe that could make it a different game. It was a golden chance but I didn’t feel in any doubt that we would go on to win the game.

“There was a lot of good stuff from us and we were ruthless. In fact the only thing I would say is that we didn’t test their goalkeeper enough. We controlled the game and we made good decisions. The subs come on and gave us a bit of energy and Owen was involved in the goal for Ryan Wintle to tap home. That is something we work on and Jonah has come on and although his shot took a hefty deflection it was good for James to be there and to get another goal.

“Today, we were much better. We passed the ball, the back players wanted the ball and we thoroughly deserved the victory. We want to finish the season strongly and we may look to do things differently but we also didn’t want to end the season with six defeats on the spin. That is not what it is about at all either. We may try different players and give them the experience. 

He added: “It’s a good afternoon and it was much better that last week and I am happy with the performance, the clean-sheet and the three points.”