Artell’s ref rant can’t hide Alex woes
DAVID Artell blasted referee Martin Coy following Crewe’s late defeat to Wycombe but also admitted his side’s defending needs to improve after shipping three goals.
Chris Porter’s early penalty was cancelled out by Paris CowanHall’s strike, before Nathan Tyson gave the Chairboys the lead despite Adebayo Akinfenwa appearing to handle the ball in the build-up.
Harry McKirdy thought he had salvaged a point but Craig Mackail-Smith struck in injury time as the visitors snatched their third league win in a row.
“We can’t concede three goals at home,” Artell said. “We can blame one man and he deserves every bit of criticism that’ll come his way.
“He was horrific. Irrespective I don’t particularly want to talk about him. We can’t concede three goals and expect to win a game of football.
“We’re in a resultsbased industry, not a performance-based industry. We’ve got to make sure performances turn into results and quite quickly.”
Porter coolly tucked away a sixth-minute penalty after referee Coy pointed to the spot following Nathan McGinley’s challenge on Charlie Kirk to give the Railwaymen an early advantage.
Wycombe’s pressure after the break paid off when Joe Jacobson’s free kick on the hour was nodded on by Akinfenwa for CowanHall to lash home a deserved equaliser.
The visitors went ahead in controversial circumstances with seven minutes left when Akinfenwa appeared to handle in the box before the loose ball eventually rebounded off the post and Tyson sidefooted home, with Artell sent to the stands for his protests.
Alex drew level when Scott Brown spilled Ryan Wintle’s shot and McKirdy was on the spot for a debut goal.
But there was a late sting in the tail when Crewe failed to deal with a long ball forward and MackailSmith poked home to complete the dramatic turnaround.
“They never know when they’re beaten, my boys. We weren’t beat, we definitely deserved something out of this game,” said Chairboys boss Gareth Ainsworth.
“The firepower I’ve got on the bench, the players that you’re putting on, Mackail-Smith, Tyson, (Scott) Kashket. To have those forwards, they’ve changed the game for me.
“There’s obviously a decision in there, you get some, you don’t get some. We’ve got one out there.”