David Artell says that our opening game against one of League Two’s promotion favourites will not define our season. Crewe Alexandra host Ryan Lowe’s Pilgrims in what should be an atmospheric Alexandra Stadium but Artell is one to suggest that too much is placed on the first game.

The Crewe Alexandra manager told us: “We have had good results in pre-season but they are not as important as when the season starts. We can try things out in friendlies and assess things and we have got what we needed out of them.

“Winning is a habit and it was nice to play well against Burnley and win and then go to Wrexham and win. We didn’t control the first half as much as we should have at Wrexham but we controlled the second half and should have scored more than the one goal. 

“The first game does not define the season. In fact it is probably the last 10 that do. We got off to a flier last year and scored six. We also conceded six a few games later, so anything can happen.

“I would say we are in decent shape. We have done good things in pre-season but there is room for improvement and if we can find those extras then we could be in for a good season.”