Boss praises his side's efforts but they couldn't quite contain Sunderland And Suffer 1-0 Defeat
David Artell says that his Crewe Alexandra side were beaten by the better side this evening. It took an unfortunate own goal by Luke Offord on the brink of half-time to divide the two teams, but Artell admitted that Sunderland deserved the three points on the balance of play. The home side missed three good chances to make their nights work a little easier, but Crewe stuck at it but didn’t create too many chances of our own to perhaps grab a point.
Following the 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light, the boss told us: “I cannot fault the effort and endeavour of the players but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say you have been beaten by the better side.
“Sunderland are the best team we have faced this season by a distance. They are a terrific team and have good players. Their staff were complimentary about us as well. We stuck at it and kept in the game but did we do enough to deserve an equaliser? I don’t think so.
“We gave ourselves a lot of work to do in the first half because we shelling the ball and had to do a lot of running. We altered some little things at half time and we improved. We gave it a go in the last 20 minutes or so but didn’t test their goalkeeper enough.
“They didn’t control the game as much in the second half as they did in the first half but fair play to Sunderland they deserve the points this evening. At 1-0,you are always in the game and we could have nicked one but we only had bits and bobs. The best chance was when Finney got in behind but didn’t connect correctly with his cross. Daniel would have had a tap in.
He added: “The players are disappointed because that is the second game running where the opposition have had more of the ball but I’ve told them that’s League One and they have to get used to it because there are going to be some good teams.
“We will reflect on it and prepare for Doncaster on Saturday.”