Lee Bell lauds injury-hit Crewe after victory at Swindon

Crewe manager Lee Bell praised his depleted side after they returned to winning ways in their promotion push with a 2-1 victory at Swindon.

Matus Holicek and Josh March scored either side of the break before substitute Michael Olakigbe responded as Alex bounced back from their home defeat to Fleetwood.

Bell said: “It’s not just the result. I thought the performance was really good. We are really struggling for numbers. Tommi’s [O’Reilly] had to come off the pitch.

“Since Christmas, it has been brutal for us, travelling, not being able to train, having minimal numbers in training sessions, lads not being at training because they’re going off, getting looked at. It’s been absolutely brutal.

“This week, we’ll give them a rest. One or two will have a few days off.

“We are down to the bare bones so for them to go on and put that performance on, with energy, with skill, and show that desire, you couldn’t ask any more from the team.

“It just shows what quality we’ve got in when we are at it and we’ve got fit players on the pitch. It just shows how good we can be.”

Swindon began the brighter with Joe Snowdon bursting down the right flank and firing just wide from 25 yards while Fletcher Holman also tried his luck from the same spot but skied his effort.

Aaron Drinan then attempted a snap-shot from distance which also went horribly wrong.

Crewe went ahead seconds before half-time when the ball landed at the feet of the unmarked Holicek to slot home after good work from Adrien Thibaut to set him up.

After the break, Robins captain Ollie Clarke blasted over before Crewe doubled their lead in the 53rd minute as March expertly touched in Jack Powell’s near-post corner.

Olakigbe halved the deficit in the 64th minute with a cushioned side-foot volley from Holman’s centre.

Olakigbe was denied by an excellent save from goalkeeper Ian Lawlor and was in a prime spot again but Ollie Palmer elected to shoot and the chance went begging as Crewe clung on.

Frustrated Robins boss Ian Holloway said: “We created enough to actually have probably equalised, and I think the draw would have been a fair result.

“I want to see us believe in ourselves and go and play and go move and understand where everybody is.

“There was a lack of cohesion and cooperation with each other.

“How many of my team actually played well? I didn’t like the look of that. We are better than that. It didn’t look like us.

“We started kicking it long, instead of passing when it was on.”