Crewe boss says we will have to be 'bang at it' to take advantage of one of our games in hand.

David Artell says that the adversity that Macclesfield Town are enduring at the moment off the pitch is making them a stronger unit.

Crewe travel to Moss Rose this evening for our re-arranged league fixture and since the postponement of the original game back in December, our Cheshire neighbours have changed managers.

The former Manchester City and Wolves Academy coach, Mark Kennedy, has recently replaced outgoing boss Daryl McMahon, who left to join Dagenham.

Artell knows that the Silkmen are fighting to safeguard their League Two status and that if they had not been docked six points for not fulfilling our December fixture and regularly not paying players on time, then they would have been enjoying a good season.

Ahead of tonight’s game, the boss said: “You can only beat what is in front of you and we know that we will be up against a strong team, who have a good home record.

“If it wasn’t for the points they lost then I am sure they would be saying they were having a decent season on the pitch. The previous manager was doing a very good job and now they have an experienced coach, who has played at the very highest level.

“Mark has been at the likes of Wolves and Man City, so he knows how to deal with players and how to set his teams up, so we are expecting a tough game.

“We know that if we play to our level then we have a great chance of winning the game. We won’t be getting ahead of ourselves here. If we can get the three points then that takes us to 50 points and that will be the first target to tick off with plenty games to spare.

The Crewe boss added: “That is the first objective and that would be a good thing. They are all tough irrespective on who you play at this level and we know we will have to be at it and come up with the answers to win the game, much in the same way we did against Cheltenham on Saturday.”