DAVIS TIPS HIS CAP TO ALEX SHOW
CREWE ALEXANDRA boss Steve Davis could not hide his delight after his side fought back for a point as Luton continue to stutter.
Danny Hylton had given the Hatters a first-half lead, but captain Ryan Lowe levelled for the Railwaymen to condemn the hosts to a third successive league draw.
And despite falling behind, Crewe boss Davis insisted his side’s confidence never dropped when they conceded.
He said: “I thought we passed the ball really well.
“We set up so we can let the centre-halves hit it a bit longer rather than try and play through, which you can do in a diamond formation.
“You’ve got to make sure there aren’t any spaces and we kept our discipline very well in doing that.
“And then when we had possession we kept the ball really well and caused a lot of problems for them in the first half without being able to score.
“We were creating a lot more opportunities than they were. Their goal came a little bit out of the blue, the one time we did switch off and we got punished for it.”
Davis’s counterpart, Nathan Jones, admitted his Luton side did not perform to the same standard they have done in recent weeks – despite extending their unbeaten run to five games in all competitions.
“The worst thing for us was having gone in at 1-0 up we couldn’t capitalise on that and hold out for the win,” the Welshman said. “I thought it was a fair result.
“They are a decent side, we saw that, they are similar to us in how they move the ball and how they want to play and I said I don’t think we were at our best.
“They condensed the space and sat off. It’s the first time they’ve done that because normally they press high and they come after you, which was the prep work we did and it frustrated us a little bit.
“That’s the frustrating part of it but as I said, a lot of sides aren’t coming here and playing their normal game.
“So for us, and when I go and watch other games, they are not doing that for anyone else. We’ve built a reputation and so we need to go and change something.”
Luton took the lead just before half-time when winger Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu switched the play to Jake Gray on the right-flank to set up Hylton’s seventh goal of the season. Luton’s captain Scott Cuthbert helped his side keep the lead with a crunching last-ditch challenge on Zoumana Bakayogo who nearly set up an equaliser for the visitors. But Crewe’s efforts were rewarded when Lowe completed a brilliant move, meeting George Cooper’s cross to seal a point and move the Railwaymen up into the League Two play-off places.