Crewe far from vintage best in Leyton Orient victory – boss Artell - 7M sport

Crewe far from vintage best in Leyton Orient victory – boss Artell



Posted Wednesday, January 29, 2020 by PA

Crewe far from vintage best in Leyton Orient victory – boss Artell

Dave Artell admitted Crewe were far from at their vintage best as a 2-0 margin of victory over Leyton Orient flattered them.

The Railwaymen managed to get back to winning ways after back-to-back draws – and are now back up to third in Sky Bet League Two – but they were unconvincing for much of the Gresty Road clash and grateful for a mistake by O’s goalkeeper Sam Sargeant to steer them on their way.

Charlie Kirk made the most of Sargeant’s failure to field a routine backpass and finished with aplomb in the second minute.

Crewe boss Artell declared: “I’ve had less stressful nights and not one of our fans will leave tonight and say it was vintage Crewe. But it is a sign of a good team if you win and don’t play very well.

“We didn’t pass very well but what we did out of possession was terrific. It’s not like we usually set up to be hard to beat, but tonight it was a case of being dogged and determined.

“We did that to a man which is why we got a clean sheet and won the game. Luke Offord had a terrific debut at the back and Michael Nottingham was terrific too. We were terrific defensively.”

Kirk was marking his 150th appearance for the Railwayman after being restored to the starting XI and he lit the game up with his approach play on the left.

He went close with a cute clip which just missed the far corner in the first half and had a second-half effort chalked out.

But it was the frontman’s quick-thinking that did the trick when Sargeant blundered.

Artell added: “Charlie deserved his goal as his work rate was superb and he was a real bright spark. There won’t be many players who have made 150 appearances at 21 (22).”

Daniel Powell sealed victory for Crewe when he bustled in and drove an angled finish past Sargeant with two minutes remaining.

Yet Orient should have been level at the interval, but Ruel Sotiriou and Conor Wilkinson wasted good chances, the latter volleying over with the goal at his mercy after Sotiriou’s initial effort was pushed out by Will Jaaskelainen.

They also had a second-half Sotiriou header chalked out after Wilkinson’s push on a defender was spotted and boss Ross Embleton described the defeat – his second since his appointment on a permanent basis earlier this month – as “gut-wrenching”.

He said: “I’m frustrated as we’ve come out of here with nothing after a good performance.

“I can’t accept that it was a 2-0 defeat – but Crewe are a tough team and we’ve produced in a performance that was as good as we have put in this season.

“Conor had a great chance that he should have done better with and I feel we scored a goal that should have stood.

“I think we deserved to win the game, but certainly come out of it with a point. But we’ve got to take the gut-wrenching feeling about not getting anything onto the coach and into training this week.

“Meanwhile, we’ve been driving a number of things on the transfer front and we were close to getting someone in on as well as Danny Johnson (who was signed from Motherwell, but not involved at Crewe).”

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