‘GOALS FLATTENED US’ ADMITS ALEX BOSS AFTER HOME ROUT
DAVE Artell says Crewe Alex contributed to their own downfall after being thumped 4-0 at home by Sunderland.
The Alex’s indifferent start to the League One season continued as Lee Johnson’s high-fliers eased to the points at Gresty Road.
The defeat followed a 3-0 loss at Fleetwood at the weekend – but Artell insists that Sunderland were given a leg-up on their way to another success.
Terrell Thomas put through his own goal in the 25th minute before Ross Stewart doubled the lead before halftime.
Stewart grabbed his second after the interval, and substitute Leon Dajaku completed the rout 18 minutes from the end.
Artell told the club’s website: “I thought we were good for the first 20, 25 minutes. Right up until their first goal really.
“We were slicker and better in possession. We closed them down and forced them into mistakes and created some good chances.
“They had some chances too but we were matching them and then we concede two goals in a short space of time and then didn’t handle the second half of the first half very well.
“We came out second half and we conceded two goals from two corners.
“One from their corner which was a tap-in and a killer goal and then one from our own corner when they hit us on the counter attack.
“We have conceded five goals from set plays in the last three matches and you cannot do that.
“We have been our own worst enemies and the mistakes have killed us. I thought the performance was better than at Fleetwood by a long way and we kept going but you cannot give goals like that to anyone, never mind Sunderland.
“The goals flattened us and one led to another and we have got to get out of that habit. It needs addressing and we will work hard to do that.”
Crewe find themselves second-from-bottom of the table and five points from safety already.
And their hopes of a revival in fortunes will be tested at the weekend when they make the trip to Wycombe Wanderers.
Wycombe, relegated from the Championship at the end of last season, are in third place in the standings, although they were held to a 0-0 draw at Rotherham United on Tuesday night.
Elsewhere in League One, Brendan Galloway and
Conor Grant struck inside the opening 15 minutes as Plymouth cemented their place at the top with a routine victory over Bolton.
Galloway opened the scoring after six minutes and Grant doubled Argyle’s advantage in short order before Ryan Broom made it 3-0 in second-half stoppage time to extend the club’s unbeaten league run to 13 games.
Wycombe’s draw at Rotherham and a home defeat for Wigan by MK Dons allowed Sunderland to climb into second place.
The Latics, who started the night in third place, led after 20 minutes through Charlie Wyke, but ultimately went down 2-1 after Peter Kioso’s equaliser and an own goal from Tendayi Darikwa.
Sheffield Wednesday needed a late Fisayo Delebashiru equaliser to emerge from their trip to Cambridge with a 1-1 draw after George
Williams’ header had given the home side a first-half lead.
Thomas O’connor’s 36thminute strike was enough to hand Burton a 1-0 win at Fleetwood, while Mark Sykes’ long-range piledriver and a Cameron Brannagan goal saw Oxford beat Shrewsbury 2-0.
Harry Pell’s double laid the foundation for Accrington’s 3-2 win at Charlton.
Ipswich struck three times in 17 minutes either side of the break on their way to a 4-0 win at Portsmouth.
Aaron Pressley’s fifthminute penalty gave Wimbledon a 1-0 win at Lincoln, while Kyle Joseph scored twice to ease Cheltenham to a 3-1 victory over Morecambe.
Gillingham ended a run of four successive defeats in all competition when Stuart O’keefe’s 79th-minute winner secured a 1-0 win over bottom club Doncaster.