David Artell wants his Crewe Alexandra side to prove that the grinding months of winter does not affect results.

The Alex boss has highlighted the fact that his Crewe side have suffered blips in October, November and early on in December in previous seasons and he wants to avoid that and sustain the momentum we have built up due to a strong start to the campaign.

Crewe go into Saturday’s home game against Morecambe on a run of just two defeats in 12 games in all competitions,but we have suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time after losing to Port Vale and Northampton.

The Crewe Alexandra manager told the club’s official website: “I do think you learn more through the dark periods and it is how you come through that which makes you stronger.

“We have suffered blips before going into October, November and early December before becoming strong again. We did it last year before we went on a terrific run after Christmas.

“I want us to avoid those blips now. It is important to keep out grinding out those victories. If the opposition are strong in some departments then we have got to be stronger. It is all about winning games of football regardless of what month we are in.”