David Artell believes Crewe’s missed chances would have made the difference at the Stadium of Light on Saturday and on another day his side could’ve taken all three points.

Post-match, the boss told his players that they should be proud of their performance after taking Play-off chasing side Sunderland all the way to the 84th minute before they broke the deadlock.

Speaking to the official club website, the gaffer said: “The performance was good. I said after the game the performance was good when I watched it back and I haven’t changed my thinking.

“We had some of the really crucial moments in the game that we didn't take advantage of, but we were good. We played in a different way, and we don't normally play like that but away from home is when we need to do that.

“I look back and I think, we should have definitely got something out of the game. Probably all three points but Sunderland are a good team and they made good changes with good players being introduced. We were comfortable until that point, and had the better chances in the game.”

He added: “We have to be a bit more clinical but if we perform like we did on Saturday, we'll always been in games. We just have to make sure that we take our chances when they come along.

“Football is full of fine margins, and we came out on the wrong side of the fine margins on Saturday. If we do a bit better on that side, then we will win games of football against good teams.”