Artell on winger after he marks 150th appearance with a goal
Charlie Kirk registered his 150th first team appearance for Crewe Alexandra in the 2-0 win over Leyton Orient and his manager, David Artell, said that the talented winger was a ‘bright spark in the game’.
Kirk opened the scoring in the opening couple of minutes when he took full advantage of a unfortunate slip from the Leyton Orient goalkeeper to score his 7th goal of the season. He also had a fine finish chalked off for offside in the second half.
Artell elected to rest Kirk for our weekend game at Scunthorpe and the break seemed to have paid off with Kirk having a glutton of chances in the opening 25 minutes. He had a couple that he bend just wide of the far post and he forced the Leyton Orient goalkeeper Sam Sargeant into a smart save and Chuma Anene just couldn’t quite reach the rebound.
Artell said of Kirk: “I think Charlie had about four shots in the opening 20 minutes. He scored one when he kept his composure after the goalkeeper slipped and he forced him into another save, but with the others he didn’t hit the target.
“I said to him at half-time ‘come on’ let’s hit the target and he knew. He scored a goal that was disallowed for offside and that was a great finish.
“His other side of the game was terrific as well, his endeavour and work rate and I thought he was a real bright spark in the game.
He added: “To have 150 games at 22 is a fantastic achievement. “