Eight home defeats on the bounce leaves club on the brink of relegation back to League Two.

Following today’s disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Fleetwood Town, David Artell admitted that some of his players found it difficult to handle the enormity of the occasion as our League One status hangs by a thread.

The defeat leaves the Railwaymen needing a football miracle to escape the bottom four. Crewe are now 12 points adrift with Fleetwood putting more daylight between the clubs with their deserved victory at Gresty Road.

The Alex boss told us: “Some defeats are more costly than others and this is one has not gone our way but when you give two terrible goals away and we don’t get the foul and all that for the third goal then you don’t deserve to get anything.

“I didn’t think there was much in the game in the first half and we managed to score the equaliser right on half time and then it was like here we go, let’s go on and win it and for the first 15, 20 minutes of the second half we were well on top. We came out and played some good stuff and had some chances but we didn’t take them and we have given away some terrible goals again.

“Then they scored their two goals and we went down with a whimper. Conceding those goals shouldn’t have the effect that it has done today and when you are behind you have to show courage and get on the ball. You have to go looking for the ball and help your mate out when he is in trouble.

“There were some of them who perhaps didn’t handle the occasion. They were able to bring on their two subs and they both scored. That has happened a lot lately and that shows where we are at the moment. They changed the game for them but we haven’t shown enough consistency and maybe losing eight on the spin at home is beginning to tell.”