Crewe Alexandra manager, David Artell, felt that he had the luxury of naming his strongest squad of his four and half year reign for the visit of Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Alex boss says that it is now a League One team with a League One substitutes’ bench after he welcomed the likes of Mikael Mandron, Harry Pickering, Daniel Powell and Billy Jones back from injury to face the Tractor Boys.
Crewe were held to a 1-1 draw after Charlie Kirk had given the lead on 59 minutes but Artell says it made a difference to have some experience in reverse after naming first year professionals and inexperienced youngsters in his 18 for a majority of the campaign.
The Alex boss said: “It was probably our strongest 18 during the four and half years I’ve been in charge. It is a League One team and had a League One bench on Saturday.
“The bench was strong with the players we had coming back and it makes a big difference. When you looked across at Ipswich’s bench and see who they had in reserve with the players they had, you can see the difference it can have.
“We have had first year pros and 2nd year pros on ours this season and that was due to injuries.
“We tried to change things with the options we had on the bench on Saturday and it didn’t quite come off, but it was nice to have those stronger options.”