David Artell has told the club's official website that he understands that his side must convert their high level of possession into more goals.

The Alex once again enjoyed the majority of possession on Tuesday night in Sky Bet League One fixture against Portsmouth, but the Railwaymen only mustered a goal together in the final stages of the game through Christopher Long.

David Artell said: “Are we heading in the right direction? We are. People I’m sure will scoff at that which is mainly down to ignorance, but I understand that.

“We know that every single one of our players is getting better and heading along the right tracks. However, we do want it to be quicker and for the improvement to be greater in some respects but then we’ve got to make sure that the players that turn out every week are looked after, cared for, and developed because that’s what our DNA is. Irrespective of league position.

“If we’re top of the league everything is rosy. Bottom of the league and you can’t start blaming players if they are trying. We’re here to help them and part of that is to learn how to handle the ball and retain possession, but we’ve also got to make sure that we’re progressive with it.”

He finished with: “You have seen what we can do, and we have got to make sure that that becomes part of our development and armoury going forward.”