DAVE Artell admits he is waiting to see a "complete" performance from his players - although the Crewe Alex boss is pleased with their improvement in recent weeks.

Tuesday night's battling effort at Plymouth (1-1) was the Railwaymen's third consecutive draw as they aim to pull out of a tough start to the campaign compounded by player turnover, illness and injuries.

Callum Ainley has joined exciting loanee Ben Knight and Chris Long in the treatment room with a scan revealing a hamstring tear which could keep the attacker out for between one and two months.

Manchester City's Knight is two to three weeks away after missing the last five games following an impressive start to his loan.

Illness reared its head again in Devon to account for Spanish midfield recruit Madger Gomes, who had to travel back to Cheshire on his own after developing flu-like symptoms. Kane Ramsay was forced off in the clash at Home Park after suffering an allergic reaction, although he is expected to be available on Saturday when Cambridge United (K.O 3pm) are the visitors.

Artell wants his players to dominate against the newly-promoted U's after watching them take hold of both the last two away fixtures for short periods.

At Plymouth after weathering home pressure Crewe took control and could have added to Scott Kashket's early opener. But after the break, just as they were for long spell at Rotherham last Saturday, they were largely mounting a rearguard operation.

"We've not go nowhere near a dominant 90-minute performance, but we are getting better and the lads are absolutely working their socks off," said Artell. "We're heading in the right direction a bit quicker than I thought we would."

The Crewe manager added: "We had a good spell for 20 to 25 minutes at Plymouth and we should have gone further ahead. We only played for 20 minutes at Rotherham, but we equalised late on and if the game had gone on any longer we'd probably have won it.

"Now we want a full half an hour [from the players] and then 60 minutes and then 80 minutes - we want to dominate teams.

"But I am really pleased with them as a group. It is one defeat in the last six games, which no-one has mentioned. Yes, there have been too many draws and not enough wins, but we're getting there and it is not a bad foundation."

Cambridge will come to South Cheshire on the back of a decent start, sitting clear of the bottom four with three wins and three draws from their first nine fixtures.

Artell warned: "Cambridge are here [in League One] on merit, much the same as Sunderland are in League One because they can't get out of it.

"Any team that comes out of League Two is going to be riding the crest of the wave - you look at last season and us and Plymouth stayed up comfortably. Of the four teams that come up don't expect them all to be in the bottom four."

• Crewe face a second blank Saturday in a month after the home clash with Doncaster Rovers on October 9 was called off after Donny confirmed three of their squad - Ethan Galbraith (N. Ireland U21s), Tiago Cukur (Turkey U21s) and Pontus Dahlberg (Sweden) have received international call-ups.

The September 4 home date with Morecambe was also off in similar circumstances.

No date has been set yet for the re-arranged Doncaster game.