David Artell was pleased that most of his squad got 90 minutes under their belts in last night’s 3-0 win over Witton Albion. The Alex boss made the trip to Northwich whilst his assistant Kenny Lunt oversaw the 5-1 win at Curzon Ashton.

Crewe won 3-0 at Witton thanks to a fine brace from summer signing Daniel Powell and a real poachers' finish from Shaun Miller after great work down the right side from youngster Travis Johnson.

Witton had their moments too, spurning a few early chances but Artell was pleased that we came through another good run out with three goals and a clean-sheet.

The Alex boss told the club’s official website: “It was the first time a lot of them have got 90 minutes, and as far as I know we have no injuries.

“It’s a clean sheet, although in the first half we had some hairy moments, and this was about making sure we can last the games.

“Now we will go into Saturday looking for another improvement. There is still plenty to work on.

“We’ve done one or two sessions on patterns, we did a session yesterday on throw-ins which I’m sure the supporters will be happy about, and we are taking the first steps towards nailing down what we want.

The boss added: “You can see bits of it. It’s another win and it is good to get that feeling, it’s a good habit and you can’t take that away from them.”