Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell said that too many of his players had sub-standard performances against Gillingham on Tuesday night. The Alex’s 10-game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with Steve Evans’ side winning 4-1 at the Priestfield Stadium.

Artell felt that the majority of his players did not hit their high level of performance thus resulting in a below-par performance from us in Kent.

The Alex boss told crewealex.net: “There were too many players below-par and having a sub-standard game. It hasn’t happened often this season or last but when it does, you will get turned over. That is especially true of this league.

“If you make mistakes and don’t perform to the levels then you get punished and Gillingham did that. We handed them the initiative with the goals we gave away and when that happens they go for you.

“You just cannot make the mistakes and give goals away like that. They didn’t have to work hard for them and we gave them a helping hand. A Steve Evans side does not need too much encouragement when you do that and there are no complaints from us, they deserved to win the game and we need to learn lessons from the way we performed on the night.”