ARTELL UNHAPPY AFTER ALEX HIT SIX!
TOUGH taskmaster Dave Artell said that Crewe’s goal exploits hid what he deemed a poor firsthalf performance at Gresty Road.
The Railwaymen hit hapless Crawley with four goals in seven minutes ahead of the interval after the Red Devils took the lead though Ollie Palmer’s penalty.
But Artell admitted: “The goals masked a sub-standard performance in the first half. But goals change games and Crawley had a sticky seven minutes and we took full advantage.
“Does it surprise me that we beat someone by six? No, it doesn’t. Whenever we move the ball quickly we look a better team. We create more opportunities and look better for it.”
Meanwhile, another of Crewe’s upand-coming prospects, 21-year-old Ollie Finney, who twice went close to getting on the scoresheet, did draw special praise from his manager.
“Ollie wasn’t a superstar at 17, he has had to fight for his starts. He’s scored 11 goals from midfield for the Under-23s and has been consistent for a long period of time. He’s fully deserved his minutes on the pitch,” said Artell.
Crawley manager Gabriele Cioffi was distraught about his side’s defending and said his side will need a big improvement ahead of next weekend’s visit of leaders Lincoln: “We have a long week to prepare for that game and we need a long week to think about this.
“We had a good half an hour, we took the lead and we had a chance to kill the game. “After 35 minutes we completely stopped and when you switch off it’s impossible to switch back on.” A dramatic afternoon seemed unlikely after Crawley’s Palmer fired his side ahead from the penalty spot in the 12th minute.
But the Railwaymen turned the game around swiftly as the interval approached with some gung-ho attacking. Firstly, Ng made amends when he slipped in Jordan Bowery on the right and the striker thundered in off the near post in the 36th minute.
Charlie Kirk broke free on the left and his angled drive was diverted past Glenn Morris by defender Tom Dallison after 38 minutes. When Kirk’s shot was saved by Morris, Bowery screwed the rebound, but the unmarked Chris Porter was at the far post to apply a simple tap-in in the 42nd minute.
Joe McNerney then lost possession disastrously to Paul Green, who picked his spot with aplomb for Crewe’s fourth just one minute later.
Kirk was thwarted by Morris as he went through on goal after the restart, but he wasn’t to be denied when he turned in Ng’s low cross for his second of the game after 47 minutes.
Crewe could have had more, but Morris turned Ollie Finney’s 25-yard belter around and Green thrashed the underside of the bar before substitute Owen Dale blasted his first senior goal into the top corner for Crewe’s sixth.