Boss says Alex had chances in the first half to make Cup tie even more interesting.
David Artell was left disappointed after his Crewe Alexandra failed to take more of their chances against a very good Barnsley side and exited the FA Cup at the 3rd round stage. The Alex boss said afterwards that the tie ‘could and should’ have been different going into half-time. Daniel Powell, who was a main threat throughout the game to the Tykes had a couple of opportunities to have put us in front heading into the interval but instead we went in 1-0 down thanks to Jacob Brown’s 3rd minute opener.
Barnsley scored two second half goals to deservedly go through to the fourth round and Artell said: “I am disappointed because it could and should have been different with the chances we had. We had two really good chances with Daniel (Powell) and on a different day it could have been different but it wasn’t.
“We had a real go against a Championship side with quality players all over the pitch and now we have to lick our wounds and pick ourselves up.
“I don’t think anyone can fault the effort, the hard work of our players and the fact that we tried to win the game - but we didn’t show that ruthless edge in front of goal. You have to take those chances.
“We got ourselves into some great positions, we got to the by-line 3 or 4 times and regardless of a bobble or whatever happened there, Daniel knows he should have scored. It is those fine margins and being clinical and the higher you go that is the difference. That is what we saw against Aston Villa here in the League Cup.
He added: “That is why they are two leagues above us and now our players are fully aware of the standard. We were beaten by the better side today but we are also disappointed that we didn’t do our business like we wanted to in that second half especially. “