DAVE Artell saluted his players for digging out a performance despite having their training schedule disrupted by the club's Covid-19 probe.

The further round of coronavirus testing prompted by the cancellation of last Tuesday's re-arranged trip to Oxford on Tuesday meant the Crewe boss had little time to prepare for the visit of Blackpool.

For long periods of the game the Alex played second fiddle to former academy coach Neil Critchley's methodical, if unspectacular, side.

The 1-1 draw was probably a fair outcome, although it would have been no injustice had the Tangerines nicked a win after their slow start to the season.

There might not be too much between the sides at the end of the campaign either. Blackpool moved out of the bottom four after ending a run of three defeats and should improve after a major rebuild and some impressive deadline day signings, including one-time Liverpool hot prospect Ben Woodburn, who wasn't involved at Gresty Road.

They posed a tougher challenge than Wigan and MK Dons, but with better preparation Crewe would have hoped to offer much more than they did in the final third.

Artell admitted: "You've got to give our players a lot of credit with very little preparation and work on the training ground to stick at it.

"It is a fairly big mitigating circumstance, it's not an excuse, and we hope it doesn't happen again. I hope no club has to go through what we've had to go through.

"If they do they might come into a game a bit short like we did today."

The first half was devoid of goalmouth excitement, save a potentially embarrassing moment when Omar Beckles left Luke Murphy's backpass head for the corner of the net before Will Jaaskelainen - back in nets for Dave Richards - took evasive action.

A blast from Jerry Yates was deflected over by Ryan Wintle, but there was little else of note in a half dominated by the visitors.

Crewe's first real thrust at the opposing backline was made to count when they took a 54th minute lead. A sweeping move was given momentum by Callum Ainley and Charlie Kirk raced away from former Alex defender Ollie Turton to pick out Mikael Mandron whose left-footed finish was the striker's fifth goal since arriving at Gresty Road in the summer.

But the Alex were slow clearing their lines when Turton delivered into the box and after Gary Madine's attempted backheel, Grant Ward levelled with a powerful strike through a melee of players which flew past Jaaskelainen (71).

Artell added: "For all Blackpool's possession they didn't really create anything. That's not a criticism of them; from a Crewe defensive point of view we stopped their threats and they have got plenty of threats.

"The one really good piece of attacking play has resulted in a goal.

"I thought it was a foul from for Blackpool's goal - their lad has had a longer ride than I've had in an Uber.

"The ref didn't see it, but he was poor for both teams. It's not sour grapes as we got a point.

"We had plenty of chances to clear it, but we were slashing it."

Crewe: Jaaskelainen; Ng, Offord, Beckles, Pickering; Wintle, Murphy (Lowery), Ainley (Finney); Powell, Mandron, Kirk. Subs: Richards, Johnson, Porter, Dale, Zanzala.

Blackpool: Maxwell; Turton, Husband, Ekpiteta, Garbutt (Mitchell); CJ Hamilton, Williams, Robson, Ward; Yates, Madine. Subs: Simms, Gabriel, Sarkic, Kemp, Ballard, Lubala.