Crewe Alexandra boss, David Artell, was delighted with his side’s fine team performance against Accrington Stanley this evening. The Railwaymen ran out deserved 2-0 winners at Gresty Road thanks to goals from Omar Beckles and Chris Porter and saw us get back on track after back-to-back defeats to Peterborough and Swindon.

Artell told the club’s official website: “I thought it was a thoroughly deserved victory against a tough side. Accrington are a tough team to beat, make no bones about it.

“I have said all week that the job that John and Jimmy have done an unbelievable job there, unbelievable but I thought we played really well tonight and deserved to win.

“I thought we were the better team in both halves. It wasn’t vintage us at all times but sometimes you have to respect the opposition and have a plan to combat what they are good at. I thought the lads did that quite well.

“When you have two big lads up there, you may go more direct at times but I thought our two were more threatening than theirs. Usually we have three up there but the only difference is that it is usually Kirky, or Owen Dale or Powelly.

“That work was the result we did out on the training ground over the last two weeks. We didn’t just throw it on them and they worked hard on it. The lads deserve all the credit because they picked it up really well.

“I didn’t think there was much danger on our goal. There were a couple that flashed across the goal in the first half but there was no last ditch tackles from us.

He added: “Our goal came from an unusual source but the ball was in the box and it was a good finish from Omar. The second goal was a terrific assist from Tom, he has turned Hughes inside out and laid it on a plate for Porter. He doesn’t miss from there and he has made a career out of goals and it was game over from that moment really.”