David Artell says that some of the performances from his players against Wigan Athletic in the Papa John’s Trophy have given him food for thought.

Crewe won 2-0 thanks to goals from midfielder, Oli Finney and an own goal from Scott Smith. The victory saw the Railwaymen qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

Artell made eight changes to the side that faced Cambridge United the previous Saturday and he was pleased that the players who came in responded to the challenge.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told the club’s official website: “When you make eight changes to the team and you win 2-0 against a good team then you are pleased. If you lose the game 4-0 then it is a totally different scenario.

“What you want as a manager is for your players to play the right way, approach it right and take their chance and I think they did that. They showed that they are capable of stepping up and it gives you food for thought.

“As a manager, you want to have difficult decisions to make when it comes to team selection. When you have players pushing the others then it leads to improvement and it is important to have those options.

He added: “Like I’ve always said, we need them to be ready because we will need them all at some point.”