Boss says that goals at Northampton have to be a one-off

David Artell has stressed that last weekend’s defensive performance at Northampton has to be one off. The Alex conceded four goals, two from set-plays and conceded a soft penalty in the opening 22 minutes at the Sixfields Stadium and then conceded a poor fourth goal that the Alex boss described as ‘the worst of the lot’.

Ahead of this weekend’s home game against Morecambe, the Crewe boss said: “We prepared for it and knew what Northampton’s strengthens would be. It wasn’t anything new but we didn’t deal with it.

“That has not been us this season. We have stood up to that well this season and I will give them the benefit of the doubt. We have defended well for the large part and they know that what happened last Saturday cannot happen if we want to end up where we want to be.

“We actually scored our goal through Chris (Porter) from a corner, so we can do it. We proved it by scoring from a set-play ourselves. So we did it in one box but not the other and that is what cost us last week.

The boss added: “It will be a whole load of little things that when you add them all up, results in a goal against. Giving the free-kick away, not getting close enough to our men, the referee not spotting the foul, the concentration, the desire to head the ball first. It is a combination of all those little things.”