Lee Bell: Crewe victory at Tranmere one of best away performances in my time

Crewe boss Lee Bell felt his side’s 4-1 League Two victory at Tranmere was one of their best away performances during his reign at the club.

The Alex were runaway victors in a one-sided affair at Prenton Park as Max Sanders’ brace set them on their way to ending a four-game winless run.

The visitors took the lead after 17 minutes thanks to Sanders’ tidy finish, before the midfielder scored again in first-half stoppage-time with a spectacular strike from a clever free-kick.

Crewe continued their dominance in the second half as Emre Tezgel converted a penalty on the hour mark to bag his seventh goal of the season.

Tommi O’Reilly fired past Joe Murphy after 71 minutes to put the result beyond doubt, with Rovers only managing a consolation through James Connolly’s late own goal.

Bell was delighted with his side’s display, saying: “It’s one of the best away performances we’ve had for a couple of years. They did everything that we asked of them.

“The attackers will get the plaudits, but I thought the defence were magnificent. We’ll take the four points from the two games and we move on and keep building.

“Tranmere were one of the in-form teams in the league coming into today and it’s the first time we’ve won here for 25 years, so there are lots of positives to take.

“We knew what we had to stand up to. We knew it was going to be a scrap at times and then we produced that bit of quality when we needed to.”

The Crewe boss was also full of praise for Sanders, adding: “There won’t be many better than Max in the league.

“He’s a great character, a super lad who wants to work and all the praise will go to him and I hope he enjoys it because he deserves it.”

Defeat for Tranmere ended their four-game unbeaten run and manager Andy Crosby apologised to the home fans for his side’s performance.

He said: “I didn’t see that coming, I have got to be honest. We prepared for the game really well. Their front players caused us a lot of difficulties all afternoon.

“To get beat at home 4-1 is obviously extremely disappointing and I apologise to the supporters for that scoreline.

“I don’t think it was down to a lack of effort, I just think it was down to a lack of quality at times at both ends of the pitch. So, we have got to take that on the chin and front it up.

“It is alright taking the praise when you are on a good run of form. But now we have to hold our hands up, take responsibility, learn and move onto the next game.”