Matt Lawlor lauds Fleetwood display after beating Crewe

Interim head coach Matt Lawlor praised his players for a “complete performance” as Fleetwood stunned promotion-chasing Crewe 1-0 at the Mornflake Stadium.

Mark Helm’s eye-catching first-half finish earned Lawlor a second win, both away from home, since taking over following Peter Wild’s sacking on January 25.

Fleetwood were good value for their success, which ended Crewe’s 10-game unbeaten home league run, and their margin of victory could have been greater.

Lawlor said: “That is how I want us to play football; good with the ball in possession and being a threat.

“We had 17 chances and we should have won by three or four, but I’m delighted to get three points away from home as it has been a sticky thing for us this season.

“Crewe were 10 games unbeaten here and they beat us 4-1 at our place at the start of the season, but I thought this was a complete performance and not just about winning a game of football.

“I thought Will Davies and Owen Devonport were brilliant as were many others.

“Will has had a new lease of life up front with Ryan Graydon leaving (for Salford). We can’t get anyone in for the fee we got for Graydon so we work with what we’ve got in the building.

“The way we play always creates situations for players like Mark Helm to flourish. We signed Helmy two years ago and we’re seeing the levels he can reach regularly now.”

Helm scored for the third game running, seizing on a rebound and curling a shot beyond Crewe goalkeeper Ian Lawlor in the 21st minute.

Fleetwood controlled the game, apart for a 10-minute spell at the start in which Adrien Thibaut and Tommi O’Reilly went close for Crewe.

The game would have been over long before the final whistle had Elliot Bonds packed his shooting boots with him.

In the first half, Bonds despatched a volley wide and blazed over when he was teed up in front of goal.

Helm went close to grabbing a second with a long-range strike and Lawlor thwarted substitute Ched Evans, while in contrast visiting keeper Jay Lynch only needed to field routine crosses.

After moving into the play-off zone courtesy of their weekend win over Gillingham, Crewe failed to muster a shot on goal.

Boss Lee Bell, who left club captain Mickey Demetriou on the bench until the hour mark, said: “The changes we’ve made have gone for us in the previous four or five games, but tonight they didn’t quite work.

“The effort was still there and the determination from the players. I’m bitterly disappointed we lost as we didn’t play as we have been playing, although I’m not taking anything away from Fleetwood who have come and done a job on us.

“But we’ll dust ourselves down and we’ll try and have a go at Swindon on Saturday. Hopefully, we will have one or two making a reappearance.”