Lee Bell was delighted with Crewe’s execution in transition in their 2-0 away victory over Grimsby.
The result took the Railwaymen up into the top three in Sky Bet League Two.
Jack Lankester and Joel Tabiner both scored within seven second-half minutes to send their team towards a first victory in four matches after three consecutive 1-1 draws in the league.
Crewe were patient in waiting for their opportunity to strike as they set up to frustrate their in-form opponents and pounce on the counter-attack, which they did with great ruthlessness soon after the break.
“Both goals were really well taken,” said Bell. “We spoke about how we thought the game might play out in transition, and we got a couple of opportunities that way.
“Jack [Lankester] took his goal very well because I didn’t think [a lob] was on, but he’s got a better left foot than me, and then he showed the composure to pick out Tabs [Joel Tabiner].
“I’m pleased for Joel because he just keeps going and going, and he got his rewards for that today.
The first half was evenly matched, but the Crewe dugout expected that their chances to win the game would come, and their execution was on point.
“They [Grimsby] were the top scorers in the league over the last five games, so to come here and control the game with and without the football was great,” Bell added.
“We had a really good opportunities to score in the first half, but it played out as we’d hoped after the break and I’m really pleased for the players with how they executed what we’ve delivered to them perfectly.”
For David Artell, it was the first time he had lost against his former employers after doing the double over them as Mariners boss last term.
“We’re obviously disappointed to lose the game,” Artell said. “We made two critical errors which led to two counter-attack goals and that has cost us the game.
“I don’t think we played as well as we have done in recent weeks; we didn’t play and run forward as much as we have done, and ultimately, that leaves us feeling that we were a bit below where we’ve set our standards.
“They had four centre-halves and two wing-backs in their starting XI, so we knew what kind of game it was going to be. They were going to make it really difficult for us to score and that was how it panned out.
“The second goal was offside, but that was irrelevant in a way because we didn’t do enough.
“A team in the play-offs setting up as they did is a feather in our cap, but we have to be good enough to break them down.”
