Alex Morris praises Crewe players for resilient response to relegation

Posted Sunday, April 24, 2022 by PA

Alex Morris lavished praise on Crewe’s players for the tireless effort they have showed since he was placed in caretaker charge.

Former academy coach Morris’ claims on the permanent job at Gresty Road have been enhanced by three battling performances, the most recent Saturday’s late comeback to secure a point from a 2-2 draw with Ipswich thanks to Tommy Lowery’s thumping 86th-minute strike.

That cancelled out Conor Chaplin’s finish in first-half stoppage time and sparked enthusiastic celebrations from supporters previously crushed by an early relegation.

Morris faces competition from candidates outside the club to be David Artell’s permanent successor, but is in pole position after making improvements in the last fortnight.

“I thought we got what we deserved from the game,” said the caretaker manager. “Our shape defensively was really good and we came to life in the last 15 minutes which shows we’re durable, resilient and strong mentally which hasn’t been the case in the past.

“We’ve seen some really strong performances from players collectively in the last three games.

“We switched off for a split second and Chaplin ghosted in unmarked and while it changed the complexion of the game it didn’t change the plan.

“We had Ipswich on the ropes at the end. We don’t want the season to end and that progress can only get better and better when players are confident.

“When they rediscover their belief good things can happen. The players are buying into everything that we are asking from them and they were out on their feet at the end.

“That has to be a must and they do need to get braver on the ball in the final third. We’ve not conceded a lot of goals across these three games, but we need to add more of a consistent attacking threat because the shots on target today were disappointing.”

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna is making plans for next season too after a disappointing end to the current campaign which has seen the Tractor Boys fail to win any of their last five games.

James Norwood wasted a first-half opportunity when Crewe keeper Dave Richards was off his line to block.

But Richards was beaten by Chaplin, who took Janoi Donacien’s delivery and drilled a low shot across the keeper.

Christian Walton produced an agile dive to preserve the lead by keeping out Mikael Mandron’s far-post header, but the keeper was powerless to keep out Lowery’s late effort.

McKenna said: “It’s up to us to be crystal clear about the things we need to improve on next season.

“There is a big responsibility to the supporters to end the season on a high. Our performance last Tuesday night against Wigan was as good as where we’ve been (this season).

“Everyone who came to the game really enjoyed the energy and we need to recreate a similar sort of atmosphere next Saturday (against Charlton) and if we get into winning positions we need to do better than we are doing at the moment.

“We need to see games out as that’s two now where the goals we’ve conceded have been unacceptable.

“That is something that will be improved, but for the players that are here we need to get back to the mindset that if we have a narrow lead in a game we have to see it out.

“We couldn’t have been in a better position at 1-0 up and Crewe were throwing bodies forward and leaving space.”