David Artell says that his Crewe Alexandra players are doing everything possible to become more consistent and turn our encouraging recent performances into more wins. The Alex boss has told the club’s official website that he and his staff have ‘taken great heart from the improvements in our performances of late’ and he wants that to transfer into more league points with a home double header against Lincoln and Sheffield Wednesday next on the horizon.

Crewe are currently bottom of the League One table, but Artell knows that things can alter extremely quickly over the festive period and the demanding schedule.

Artell told Crewealexnet: “There has been more consistency within the performances. We know we have a long way to go still but it is pleasing to see that all the work that everyone has put in has seen an improvement.

“We can take huge heart from the fact that the performances are starting to come now. They have certainly been better of late and we have to continue to perform like we did at Ipswich and like we did against Doncaster and Gillingham.

“If we can then I think we will be fine. It is all about striving to get better and the players are all doing that. They are taking on board what we are asking of them and getting it at a faster rate and we are controlling games a lot better than we were.

“That has to continue because we have to start winning games of football in the league.”