David Artell says that his Crewe Alexandra have been introduced to a baptism of fire in League One with the fixture list we have had - but he says his side can take great heart from some of the performances against a number of promotion candidates.

Crewe have now played six of the top eight in the division, narrowly losing by a single goal to Lincoln, Hull, Sunderland and Ipswich, as well as losing 2-0 to Charlton Athletic on the opening weekend.

Crewe also impressively won 2-1 at Doncaster Rovers, who are currently just outside the play-off places.

The Alex boss told the club’s official website: “I think we have played five or six of the top sides and it has been a fairly tough start for us.

“By facing those teams, it usually means they have come down from the Championship, are in good form when they play us or they have got their recruitment right in the summer. We have had a mixture of that and it has been a tough challenge.

“We have done okay but we should have more points on the board and that is the disappointing thing. I think we should have six more points than what we have.

“We were flat against Lincoln and got what we deserved. Sunderland were superior to us on the night but we feel we have been competitive in all the games. We haven’t performed in what one and half games.

“I thought we were the better team against Hull and we lost 1-0 late on. I definitely think we were the better side on Saturday (at Ipswich) and again we got beat 1-0. The performances are there and the players should take great heart from the fact that we have come up against some big clubs for this league and we have deserved more than we have got.”