David Artell has told the club’s official website that as a manager he is learning all the time and he will be taking that into next season. The Alex boss has certainly masterminded an improvement in the second half of the season to move us into the top half of the table and only a recent blip of going four games without a win dented our potential hopes of securing a top seven finish.

The Alex boss admitted that he assesses that small blip, he has learned a great deal in relation to squad rotation and making sure we maximise the freshness of the players.

The boss explained to crewealex.net: "We feel as though we kept the same side for too long, and ran out of puff in games 11 and 12, Exeter and Northampton.

"Looking back at it now, I can still see why we did it. We'd only lost one in 10, away to Bury, so why would you change the team that was unbeaten?

"But with the benefit of hindsight, if we'd have made subtle changes from game six or seven, we'd have had more fresh legs on the pitch and given others had a break.

"If we'd have just pulled one out and put one in for those matches, you end up maybe going 11, 12, 13 games or more unbeaten.

"We didn't see what was coming over the hill and that's firmly on my shoulders, no-one elses.

"I hope if we get another run of one defeat in 10, I'd like to think we've learned from that and we'll address it.

David added: "Every time we experience something, we are going to be better for it."