David Art ell was pleased that his Crewe Alexandra side finally got their just rewards for a high level of performance against the MK Dons.

Crewe deservedly won 2-0 thanks to goals from Mikael Mandron and Oli Finney in the first half and the only negative was that we didn’t convert more of the chances we created throughout the game.

It was three points and a clean-sheet at home and Artell was understandably delighted by his side’s endeavour and hard work to get that first league win of the season.

After the 2-0 win at Gresty Road, Artell told the club’s official website: “I think it was a fully justified result today and I don’t think anyone can say any differently.

“It is our first league win and our first clean-sheet, I am sure that it won’t be the last. There were real positives from today’s game but I’ve said that we are improving each week and I think that this was another step up from Hull last week. I think we deserved something last week and didn’t get it but the result followed the performance here.

“The only negative was that we only scored two because we had enough chances to have added to that. Two was enough today but we still have to be more clinical.

“The shape of our team was excellent and the front four of Mikael, Owen, Charlie and Oli Finney set the intensity with their hard work and pressing. Murph (Luke Murphy) said afterwards that those four made the job easier for the midfield and the defenders and he was right.

“We were good on the ball but we were also good without the ball and I’ve said, the only criticism was that we didn’t score more.

“Mikael set the intensity with his pressing and it was a terrific number 9 performance from him.

“Finney has got his goal and he could have had more. He should have passed to Owen Dale when they went through but he is affecting games and there are still things to work on.

He added: “We are heading in the right direction and there is plenty to take from this performance, the most pleasing thing being how disciplined we were without the ball.”