David Artell says that his Crewe Alexandra side have to learn ‘about the state of the game’ and make sure we are resolute when the opposition have their spell of dominance. The Alex boss was pleased with his side’s overall performance at Ipswich on Sunday,but was left frustrated that our slow start to the game cost us at least a point.

Crewe rallied second half to get ourselves back into the game through Christopher Long’s third goal in three games but we couldn’t quite force home what would have been a deserved leveller at Portman Road.

Artell knows that there were plenty of positives to take from the game but also focussed on the reasons why we didn’t manage to get something from it in terms of league points.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told us: “I said to the players afterwards that they have to understand the state of the game. The first 15 minutes and the start we made cost us the game. That early goal cost us at least a point and then we didn’t defend the goalkick for the second goal well enough for the second goal. Celina was terrific after that and it was a wonderful goal but we have to defend how it got him, better at that stage of the game.

“It was the same at Wimbledon where 25 minutes cost us and we had to chase the game. We have to learn from it and be resolute when the opposition have a spell in the game. Every team is going to have a spell at some point.

“We didn’t play particularly well for 70 minutes at Rotherham but remained in the game and got a point. In those last 20 minutes, we had the majority of the play and if we had scored earlier, who knows we could have gone on to win. That is knowing the state of the game and making sure we come through those spells unscathed.

“We have to understand that more as a group and become more effective with it.”