Opposition view: Artell reveals he purposely changed his style to counter the 'worst pitch' Crewe have played on

Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell revealed it was a deliberate ploy to change his philosophy and play a more direct game to counter 'probably the worst pitch we have played on' after Saturday's win over Northampton.

Crewe are regarded as a passing, possession-based side but were reluctant to play out from the back at the PTS and instead decided to mix things up by regularly going long.

It worked too because whilst the game was far from a classic, Owen Dale's late goal ensured Artell's team bounced back from their 3-0 defeat to Burton last weekend.

"I think it was a job well done," said Artell. "It was attritional on probably the worst pitch we've played on. It was very tricky but we knew that and we planned for it.

"We knew it would be in no fit state and it would be about second balls and that was a side of the game that we didn't do very well last week but I know the boys can do it when they put their minds to it, as they showed today. We produced a couple of bits of quality and that was enough to win the game.

"We had to change our style because if you don't, you can look foolish. I have a strong philosophy and the club has a strong philosophy but at the same time, winning games is also important.

"It's not about throwing your philosophy out the window, it's about doing the right thing at the right time and I get judged on winning football matches. It was attritional and it wasn't the best quality but it was far superior than anything we showed last week.

"They got in behind us once and the lad fluffed his lines. We got in behind them twice and we scored one because we've got good players and I think we were the better team and deserved to win."