Lee Bell stressed he will "face the music" if Crewe's ailing campaign continues.

Last night's tame defeat at the hands of promotion-chasing Carlisle was a third in a row and after the uplift of November's wins over Colchester and Swindon during Bell's period as interim manager the mood has darkened around Gresty Road once more.

So much so that many fans headed for the exits after Kristian Dennis galloped half the length of the pitch to seal the Cumbrians their victory in the 72nd-minute.

Before then Bell's players failed to respond to low blows at the start of both halves. Carlisle skipper Morgan Feeney exposed set-piece frailties again, flicking home a sixth-minute corner delivered by man-of-the-match Owen Moxon, who fired in the second soon before (46) Luke Offord was red carded in the 50th-minute for an off-the-ball incident involving Carlisle frontman Jack Stretton, who was left writhing on the pitch.

The Alex skipper, who had only returned from suspension, was castigated by his manager for his actions and he will now miss games against Tranmere, AFC Wimbledon and Mansfield, adding to the club's defensive woes.

Zac Williams faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after being injured in the Boxing Day defeat at Stockport, although Connor O'Riordan's return from a loan stint at Raith Rovers is a positive given how well the 19-year-old fared in League One last season.

But there were few positives to take from this defeat, although the gap between Crewe in 17th place and the bottom two remains a ten-point one for those looking warily at the prospect of a potentially calamitous drop into the National League.

Luke Offord's dismissal left Crewe with a mountain to climb (Picture credit: Kevin Warburton).

Crewe failed to offer a single effort on goal at Stockport, so at least efforts from Dan Agyei and Joel Tabiner as the first half closed ensured there was no repeat of that unenviable statistic, although both failed to trouble Carlisle keeper Tomas Holy.

The defeat capped off a miserable 2022, which has seen the Alex win just nine of their 44 league games, suffer relegation by an 11-point margin and for a club noted for managerial stability experience the uncertainty of three changes in the hot seat.

April's decision to sack Dave Artell looks flawed despite the wretched 2021/22 campaign. The long-serving boss appeared to have some credit in the bank after supervising Crewe's highest league finish in 15 years in 2021.

The club chose to replace him from within and Bell - who swopped roles with his assistant Alex Morris last month - now faces a tough assignment dragging out improvement from a team short on confidence and badly missing the finishing of injured leading goalscorer Courtney Baker-Richardson.

Resources are thin on the ground for embarking on a transfer window spree, as Artell did with limited success a year ago, but strengthening is needed from back to front and particularly up top. Teenager Connor Evans started for the first time against Carlisle, alongside Bassala Sambou, but the latter's lack of goals since his arrival last January has left Agyei shouldering a hefty responsibility.

Leading scorer Courtney Baker-Richardson last played on October 29 and has undergone hamstring surgery (Picture credit: Kevin Warburton).

Bell said: "It wasn't a case that Carlisle came and passed us off the pitch, it was just that we defended poorly in moments. The players are really low in confidence and it is my job to instil some into them.

"Players are doing things they don't normally do. I've told Luke Offord what I think [of his sending off]. He's done wrong, so I've let him know. He's not one to do something like that, but you can't show your frustration like that.

"I am ready to face the music that comes my way. We will continue to work on improving our attacking threat and get improvements. We've got to stop thinking about last year and make 2023 as positive as we can and get the crowd with us."