Artell pleased that 'new' back five stood firm against strong Pompey attack.
With an average age of just 20.6 years, an extremely young Alex back five achieved a superb clean-sheet against Portsmouth last night to end a run of three straight home defeats at Gresty Road.
In the wake of Saturday’s heavy 6-0 defeat to Oxford United, manager David Artell shuffled his pack, making six changes for the visit of promotion hunting Pompey and three of those changes occurred at the back.
Only goalkeeper Will Jaaskelainen and captain Harry Pickering kept their places in the Crewe back-line, with Rio Adebisi, Luke Offord and Nathan Wood all returning to the side.
Donervon Daniels also deserves credit for the defensive clean-sheet after he played out the last hour following the head injury to Adebisi.
Artell told crewealex.net: “It was a very young back five. I would have thought the average age would have been below 21, so for them to perform like they did and keep a clean-sheet against Portsmouth was very pleasing.
“They deserve the credit for that but I must also say that the two in front of them, Tom (Lowery) and Murph were terrific for them as well. I thought they were outstanding.
He added: “The work ethic was terrific and when you pick a team you hope they show that effort. They didn’t do that enough on Saturday but they showed that real grit to get a result against Portsmouth.”