Alex have to kick on now says boss Artell
CREWE boss David Artell laid down the gauntlet to his side to have a winning mindset after their first victory of the season against Barnet.
Chris Porter’s fourth strike of the campaign proved enough to seal three points and keep the Railwaymen’s unbeaten league record intact.
And though Alex boss Artell felt the win was workmanlike, he believes their secondhalf performance decided the encounter.
“Some of the young lads haven’t been used to winning games of football, and that’s what we’ve got to get to,” he said.
“It’s got to be that mindset of every game, ‘we’re going to win the game’. When we get that right, we’ll be difficult to stop because we’ve got some really, really good players.
“There’s things to work on, more so than the previous weeks, but it’s a pleasing three points with a clean sheet as well.”
Jamie Stephens palmed away Porter’s early close-range header before stopping George Cooper’s curling 12th-minute effort.
Chris Dagnall’s 21stminute long-range effort fizzed wide and Alex central defender Brad Walker broke through the Barnet midfield on the halfhour and forced Stephens in action.
Bees wing-back David Tutonda fired a low 56th-minute effort which Ben Garratt parried to safety, while Mauro Vilhete’s freekick moments later struck the post.
Dagnall nearly capped off a fluid Crewe attack on 70 minutes but was denied the opener by Stephens’ sublime reflexes.
But Barnet’s resistance was broken when Zoumana Bakayogo’s excellent cross found Porter 16 minutes from the end to slot past Stephens. “The biggest message I’ve said to the players is we have to learn from it,” said Bees boss Rossi Eames as their unbeaten league start ended. “It’s disappointing, certainly not at the levels we’ve been at in recent weeks. “We’ve huffed and puffed, we haven’t created anything when we’ve had the ball and the basics that we’ve done so well and how we’ve competed in the last few weeks.
“Winning the second balls, winning the first phase, win our tackles, winning the headers – it was everything to see that wasn’t there. They’re disappointed in there and we’ve got to go again.
“We haven’t deserved it, we haven’t competed, and if you don’t compete then you don’t deserve to get anything out of the game.”