End of defensive woe is another sign of Crewe Alex revival under Alex Morris

Crewe's 3-0 win at home to Harrogate on Saturday was their first clean sheet in 22 games, a measure of the struggles the team suffered on their way to relegation.

So, manager Alex Morris was pleased to start the season with back-to-back wins, having opened with that 2-1 victory at Rochdale, but also to have ended that woeful defensive run that stretches back to the goalless draw at home to Shrewsbury in January.

Morris, who took over four games from the end of last season with relegation already confirmed, said: “That shouldn’t ever be happening again. We will go a long way towards making sure that stats like that don’t need to be broken.

“It is always pleasing to keep a clean sheet because, without stating the obvious, it gives you a platform in any game of football to go on and win it then.

“We are really pleased with the attacking options we have in our team. So, if we continue to have a sound base, which we have shown in the first two games, and limit the opposition to very few attempts on goal, then we are always confident we are not just going to score one goal, but multiple goals in games.

“Limiting their opportunities is important to us this season because, across the first two games, I think the opposition have had three shots on target. That is really pleasing for us.

“We are going to have a sound structural base in terms of how we defend and are organised this season, when you do that, your football will evolve from that.

“If you have a nice sound base, it will allow anything in the attacking half of the pitch to just take shape.

“We won’t always click and play wonderful football. It would be nice to and we will attempt to do that as often as we can. But if you can’t quite fire with your football, at least you