David Artell praised his side’s performance at Portman Road, saying it was a hard result to take after his spirited side were beaten 2-1 by Ipswich Town. Crewe conjured up a number of good chances and created enough opportunities to have got something from the game, but the home side also had chances of their own in what was an open affair in League One.
It was a disappointing one to take after we produced one of our most positive away displays of the campaign. Artell hailed his side as 'magnificent in the second half' as Crewe really took the game to the Tractor Boys.
Following the 2-1 defeat, Artell told the club’s official website: “That is a hard result to take because I thought the performance was magificient. We have come to a team who are going to there and thereabouts, Paul Cook knows how to get promotions, and we have passed the ball terrifically well.
“But we have shot ourselves in the foot. We have given them a goal start and it is hard enough coming here without starting the game like we did for the first 5-10 minutes. We shot ourselves in the foot for 25 minutes at Wimbledon and that cost us and it was the same today with the way we started but after that we were magnificent.
“We scored a great goal to get back into it and had chances before that. I thought we dominated the ball second half and we deserved at least a point.
“We gave them a goal and they have scored a wonderful goal through Celina. I am not taking anyting away from the quality he showed but it was frustrating that the goal came in stoppage time from a goal-kick. That is game management where we need to defend that goalkick, win the header, win the second ball and make sure we go in at 1-0 rather than 2-0 and regroup.
“The fans who came down were magnificent for us again. They were magnificent at Wimbledon on Tuesday night. It is a bitterly cold afternoon but they have applauded us off at the end because they could see the effort the players put in and they could see that we are improving.
The manager added: “If we can cut out those mistakes that resulted in the goals and pass the ball like we did then we win more games than we lose.”