David Artell said that his Crewe Alexandra side gave the ‘best side we have faced in the last four, five weeks’ a real go. Sheffield Wednesday won 2-0 at the Mornflake Stadium thanks to goals from Bannan and Gregory, but it could have been different if Chris Porter had not missed a penalty in first half stoppage time. Porter does not miss many at all and his follow-up header was saved as well by the agile Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

The Owls controlled much of the second half after going 2-0 up but Artell also credited his Crewe side for going to the end to try and find a passage into the game.

Following the 2-0 defeat at Gresty Road, the Alex boss told us: “Sheffield Wednesday were the best side we have faced over the last few weeks and we didn’t give them an easy ride at all. They are a good side and will be there or thereabouts, so we know where we are. It was always going to a good test and we just fell a bit short.

“I must credit our players for their efforts. We had to make a couple of late changes again and it is what it is. It was the same as Tuesday night when we lost players through illness and injury. It was the same today, Mika is ill and Ben Knight rolled his ankle in training, so we had to readjust and play differently. They took that on board and we had a go for the last 20 minutes. Of course, you can say the game was gone by then but I was pleased with the way we finished the game.

“We had our own periods in the game and we played some good football at times. We looked a decent team and were competitive, We cause them some problems at times and had some half chances at the end.

“The way we started both halves have cost us. We started slowly and to concede 1 minute, 20 seconds into the second half was disappointing. The players were still in the dressing room and it could have been 1-1, and instead it's 2-0 and that’s not good.

“It was a real good game of football between two decent teams. We should have stopped Bannan for the first goal, as good as he is. He is arguably the best player in the league but we should have stopped him. “