Artell targets consistent last third to get us out of trouble

David Artell says that his improving Crewe Alexandra side have to continue picking up points and being consistent if we are to escape the drop into League Two. Crewe have vastly improved on their early season form and go into this weekend’s game at Cambridge United on the back of four wins and a draw against Shrewsbury last time out from our last nine matches in the League. It has given us a fighting chance as we aim to catch AFC Wimbledon, Lincoln and Fleetwood above us in the table.

The Alex boss told the club’s official website: “It does take time and it has taken us longer than we expected or would have wanted. After the start we made, we told the players that the middle part of the season had to be a lot better to give ourselves a chance and to their credit the players have done that. We have improved in many aspects of our play and that has given us a chance.

“Now we need the last third of the season to be better than the period we have just had and if we do then we have a chance of clawing those points back we need and then surpassing it.

“Development does take time. We lost a lot of players, four of them went just before the start of the season and Dale on deadline day and that would affect any starting XI at any club.

“It was a test for us all and it has been up to the management team to cajole and work with the players to turn it around and get better results. We have done that but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“We are beginning to see the fruits of our labour if you like and we have to keep it going. We are probably going to have blips along the way, we had one at Burton certainly but we have to minimise those as much as possible.

“We cannot afford to have too many of them between now and the end of the season. The first target is to close that gap as quickly as possible and then look to surpass it.”