Dave Richards produced the goods again on Tuesday evening when pulling off another penalty save to help us to victory over Wigan Athletic in the Football League Trophy.

Richards saved from Stephen Humphrys just five minutes into the second half and in doing so preserved our 1-0 advantage. Five minutes later, an own goal put Crewe firmly in the driving seat in the tie.

Richards played his part in the cup win but says that the most important thing was the win for the team. He told the club’s official website: “The main thing was the team won the game and kept a clean-sheet.

“We want to get into the habit of winning games because we have struggled to do that at the minute. We are hoping that it doesn’t take too much longer for this new team to gel. We clicked against Cambridge in the first half and it fell away in the second half but we have had a good performance and a good result against Wigan and that’s the main thing.

“It is nice to keep a clean-sheet and get that win to progress in the competition. That is what we set out to do.

“All the boys who came into the team know they have to be ready. It doesn’t matter if that is in the Under-23s, cup games like these one’s or in the league. You have to be on it. “

On his latest penalty save, the Alex goalkeeper, who is battling it out with Will Jaaskelainen for the number one spot, said: “We do our homework before the game. We watch clips on the penalty takers and we came up with the goods again.

“We prepared well for it and I saved a few in the shoot-out at the end of the training session, so I felt confident going into it. It is our chance to shine as a goalkeeper and me and Will (Jaaskelainen) enjoy that challenge if it ever happens.”