CREWE Alexandra’s 3-0 victory at Crawley Town on Tuesday night left boss Dave Artell delighted with his players.

James Jones opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Jordan Bowery doubled the lead with his first Alex goal after the break.

Chris Dagnall wrapped up the win shortly after to ensure The Alex bounced back from Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to bottom side Newport County in the best possible way.

“I said to them that the inconsistency drives me mad but when we play like that we look a decent side and we will win a lot more games,” Artell told crewealex.net.

“I thought that to a man they were terrific tonight and it could have been more. It could have been three at half-time and we could have scored five or six.

“They hit the bar in stoppage time but we have restricted them to one real effort outside of the box all night and I am delighted with them.

“We showed them parts of the Newport game because we will come up against that like again but it was in the past and we had to move on quickly.

“We picked them up and told them that a bad 45 minutes of football was not going to cost us the game at Crawley.

“Tonight, we have had another reaction and that was more like us. We were terrific on the ball and worked extremely hard when we didn’t have it.”

The victory allowed The Alex to move ten points clear of the League Two relegation zone with nine games of the season remaining.

While they are not yet mathematically safe, Artell has already been putting plans in place for his summer recruitment ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

“I just want to keep my recruitment staff fully briefed on what’s happening, where we are going, what we are trying to do, and the strategy which will be implemented,” he said.

“We have more information, more knowledge and have done more research in the hope we make better decisions.

“It’s not an exact science, recruitment, by a long stretch.

“It might not work out like that but the more information you’ve got, the more you minimize that risk as much as you can do.”

Elsewhere, Artell confirmed skipper George Ray will be assessed after he was forced off the field at Crawley with a groin injury.

It is hoped the injury is not serious enough to force the central defender out of Saturday’s home game against Colchester United, kick off 3pm.

Meanwile, The Alex will face neighbours Nantwich Town in the Cheshire Senior Cup final after they beat Warrington Town in their last-four clash.

Crewe had beaten Hyde United in their semi final and details of the final are yet to be confirmed.