David Artell wants his players to show a ruthless streak in pre-season and make sure they come through the challenges of going to places such as Nantwich, Witton and Wrexham and coming away with a win.

Artell is aiming for a vast improvement on the road next season. Crewe’s inability to pick up enough away points in the first half of the season subsequently ended our hopes of possibly gatecrashing the play-off places.

Crewe did pick up some notable wins on the road in the second half of the season at places such as MK Dons, Mansfield and Swindon, but Artell wants us to grind out a lot more results this time around.

He wants to try and set that marker in our pre-season programme.

The boss told crewealex.net: “I want the players to show that ruthless streak and come away from games with three points or a point when we haven’t played particularly well. There were too many occasions last season when we played well away from home and came away with nothing.

“We have to play well and win and if we don’t play well, make sure we don’t get beat as the minimum.

“I want them to show that ruthless side in pre-season and go to Nantwich and win, go to Whitchurch and win and go to Wrexham and win. I want them to turn up and get the job done, like we did at Mansfield and like we did at Swindon. We didn’t show that enough.

“I want them to prove that they can win difficult away games. That is what the best teams have. They have that real belief that they are not going to get beat. Can we show that even if we don’t play well, can we grind out a 1-0 win or pick up a point? It remains to be seen.”