A disappointed Alex Morris said that his Crewe Alexandra side ‘found a way to lose the game’ after we were beaten 2-1 at Lincoln City on the final day.
Crewe had led 1-0 thanks to Chris Long’s 10th goal of the season until the final 15 minutes but conceded twice to end up beaten by Michael Appleton’s Imps.
Morris could not disguise his frustrating at the loss: “We found a way to lose the game, we have found a way to lose the game from a winning position. Half way through the second half we had chance after chance to extend the lead. We were in a good shape defensively and we were in total control of the game.
“They mixed it up a bit with their shape, got an extra player up top and from the corner, we are obviously down to 9 men which left us really short because we had two markers missing and a result of that they score and they go on to win the game from there.
“We have missed numerous chances to have gone on and won the game and we deserve to lose because of those factors. We need a greater mentality to deal with set-backs. If you only have 9 men on the pitch to defend a set play then so what? Find a way to keep the ball out of the net and that is what we said to them in the dressing room. Don’t use it as an excuse.
“Yes, the cards have been dealt poorly with the situation with two men off the pitch but find a way to stop the ball going in the net. If you find a way to stop the ball going in the net from that situation, the game looks very different.
“It was a turning point and we have got to learn from it so it doesn’t look like next year when we face those problems. Those type of games have to look differently next year when we are going 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go in an away game.
He added: “We haven’t scored enough this season and we have conceded too many and that has to be the big change.”