Lee Bell has warned his players to pay no attention to the League Two table, ahead of Crewe Alexandra’s clash with Colchester United (Saturday, 3pm).

The U’s are bottom of the standings after 17 games, with just one point picked up on the road all season.

But the Alex interim manager says form and league position are irrelevant, and urged his men to focus on what they can do to win the game at Mornflake Stadium.

Bell said: "I don’t want the players looking at the league table to see where Colchester are, they’ve got good players.

“You do not look at league tables. We concentrate fully on what we are going to do, how we are going to stop, how we are going to score.

“We’ll prepare them right and they need to have that mindset that we are going to go out to compete and win every game.”

Bell, who will check on the fitness of Courtney Baker-Richardson and Rod McDonald today (Friday), scored his first goal for Crewe in a home win over Colchester.

The game, in August 2002, ended in a 2-0 win for The Railwaymen, with Rob Hulse getting the other goal.

Bell added: “Was that 20 years ago? Wow! Well, that’s just how it’s fallen, it’s in the stars!

“But it doesn’t matter who we are playing. We are at home, it is our house, and we want to put on a performance and get the three points.”