Artell praises his keepers for the research and work they put into saving spot-kicks.

Alex goalkeepers, Dave Richards and Will Jaaskelainen both have consistent records for saving penalties and their manager believes that is just reward for the hard work and research they put into it.

Richards made another crucial penalty save from Wigan Athletic’s Stephen Humphrys in last night’s 2-0 win. The Welshman went the right away again to make the save and preserve our 1-0 lead at the time. An own goal caused by Chris Porter’s aerial presence put us 2-0 up on the hour mark.

David Artell told the club’s official website: “Firstly, I thought it was a poor decision to award the penalty. If we are giving penalties when someone whacks the ball at someone three yards away and his hands are virtually by his side then there are going to be a lot of penalties given.

“We were all shaking our heads in the technical area and the Wigan coaches were too.

“It was another important save from Dave. He and Will have a good record of saving penalties and that is because they are good goalkeepers but also of the work they put in to researching the penalty takers. They deserve great credit for the work they put into that, as does our analyst John Dillon and the research he does.

“It is the same when we have a penalty and Ports or Mika takes it. They have some idea of which way the opposition goalkeeper likes to dive and where his success rates are.

“Trigger’s penalty save did change the game. They got in once more towards the end but we got away with that one, but other than those two chances they didn’t create too many more that I can think of.”