Dugdale: Crewe Alexandra not getting carried away (From Crewe Guardian)

Dugdale: Crewe Alexandra not getting carried away

10:24am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Crewe Alexandra By Toby Robinson

ADAM Dugdale insists his Alex teammates aren’t getting carried away by any talk of a promotion push.

Back-to-back wins against Plymouth and Oxford have taken Crewe up to 13th in League Two and reignited hopes of a late surge for glory.

Greg Pearson made a dream start to his loan spell from Burton - coming off the bench to net a last-minute winner against the Us (1-0), last Saturday.

Arguably Crewe’s best result of the season, it’s lifted spirits among supporters.

However the 23-year-old centre-half says there’s been no hype within the camp “We’re just going to take every game as it comes,” he explained.

“We know how inconsistent we’ve been, so it’s not a case of winning two and now getting carried away with ourselves.

“We’ve just got to make sure we’re picking up points every week and then see where we are in 10 games time.”

Ever-present along with keeper Steve Phillips this season, the fans’ favourite admits home form must improve during the second-half of the season.

Crewe have won just four down Gresty Road compared to seven on their travels.

“It’s been disappointing because we were so strong at home last season,” he continued.

“But our away record is decent and if we can keep that going and improve at home, we’ll see where it takes us.”

Expectations will be high with third-bottom Dagenham arriving at The Alexandra Stadium on Saturday.

“We’ve got Dagenham and we owe them one because we should have got something there,” added Dugdale.

“It’s a game we should win and we’ll do everything we can do to win it.

Lee Bell is expected to be out for around a month with his hernia operation set for Tuesday.

Shaun Miller (hamstring) and Carl Martin (hip) are also unlikely to face John Still’s Daggers although AJ Leitch-Smith should shake off a thigh strain to be in contention.

But after making a dramatic impact at Oxford, 26-year-old Pearson is likely to make the first start of his loan stint.

“He’s not played a lot of football at Aldershot and had fallen down the pecking order at Burton but we knew what a good player he was and what he could offer us,” explained assistant boss Neil Baker.

“It was a dream start to his loan and he’s got to continue that now.”