David Artell was annoyed that his Crewe Alexandra side ‘didn’t run around in the first half’ but when we did in the second half, we proved what a good side we can be. Crewe were foiled time and time again by the inspired Grimsby Town goalkeeper James McKeown as the Mariners ended the season with a 2-0 home win.
Following the 2-0 loss on the final day, Artell told the club’s official website: “Our first half performance has cost us three points today for sure. We didn’t run around enough and they knew when they were told at half-time. The mistakes we made cost us the goals.
“In the second half we applied ourselves and their goalkeeper ends up being Man-of-the-Match. We had enough chances of our own in the second half to have got something from the game. How we didn’t score in the second half was beyond me. The second half was fine but we were not clinical enough. We didn’t show enough quality at the cruical moment.
“We didn’t work hard enough in the first half and they were told at half-time but when we started running around we were the better team and should and could have got something out of it.
“It was poor from us in that first half and it could have been three or four nil but we could have also scored four or five in the second half. It was certainly a game of two halves and it summed up our away from this season. The first half was our first half performances away from home and the second half was the second part of the season when we have been relatively consistent.
“We need to improve our away form next season and make sure that we get results at places like Grimsby. Away from home, we haven’t beaten a team in the bottom 10 of the league and that is a criminal statistic. “