David Artell was rightfully disappointed that his Crewe Alexandra side stopped playing their football  following Accrington Stanley’s goal last night. The Alex conceded the only goal of the game just before the hour mark via a free-kick. Replays actually show that scorer, Colby Bishop and another of his team-mates had moved offside when Matt Butcher struck his excellent free-kick.

Will Jaaskelainen stretched to make the save but the ball dropped in the six yard box and Bishop, with his yard advantage, nodded home from on virtually the goal line. It was a hugely disappointing way to lose the game and even more so when you see that it should have been chalked off for offside, but Artell was none too pleased either with the way we reacted to going behind.

The boss said: “I thought we stopped playing football and started whacking up there too much. We had got joy in the second half of the first half and before the goal by being patient and passing our way in.

“Chris (Porter) had our best chance in the first half when we did that down the left but we didn’t do it enough, especially when they sat back and were content to protect their lead.

“We have to keep playing our football and believe that if we do then the goal will come. We moved away from that too much after the goal.

“Owen (Dale) took an elbow in the face in the first half and then got scythed down again, so he was obviously worrying them with his pace and his ability to get in behind. It was the same on the other side with Charlie and it was his cross that led to Chris’s best chance with the header, but we stopped getting the ball to them.

“They cannot be effective if we can’t get the ball to them in advanced areas of the pitch and that is why I made the change with Owen because we had to try something different to try and get back into the game.

“We didn’t create enough chances, especially when we had a lot of the ball as we chased that equaliser and that is the most disappointing thing for me.”