DAVE Artell says Crewe need to be on their guard for Ryan Lowe's Plymouth Argyle despite the Pilgrim's wretched current form.

Former favourite Lowe returns to Gresty Road tomorrow night (K.O 7pm) with his Argyle side reeling under five straight losses which has seen them drop away from the edge of the League One play-off zone down to 16th.

Those defeats have included a heavy home loss at the hands of Rochdale (0-4) and a 5-1 hammering at Fleetwood. With a healthy budget behind him the pressure will be on the one-time Alex striker to turn his side's form around.

But Crewe boss Artell says the Devon side shouldn't be underestimated as they have quality in their ranks and after viewing their home defeat (0-3) at the weekend against West Country rivals Bristol Rovers he says he is very wary.

"Plymouth are on a poor run, but that isn't reflected in their play from what I've seen and they have some good players like Byron Moore and Conor Grant, who was here on loan," said Artell.

"We've got to make sure their bad run goes on.

"Ryan had a ridiculously massive budget when he was at Bury, so much so that they went under and he has had a similar big budget at Plymouth.

"Now they are in a league were that budget is not as astronomical and they are where they are. But I don't think their results are a reflection on their performances.

"So Ryan and Steve Schumacher have got some work to do, but they are a good team and we have got to be right on our guard."

The Alex chief was pleased his side were able to maintain the attacking threat that has been prominent this term despite missing injured striker Chris Porter against Northampton when a stoppage-time winner from Ryan Wintle secured a dramatic 2-1 success.

But he believes unless his side's creativity is matched by some penalty-box sharpness then games will remain in the balance, or not won at all.

"We were missing Chris but we showed how we are as an attacking team in the way we went about our business. But there were a couple of them who had chances before Ryan (Wintle) scored with the last kick of the game.

"That's not good enough and until that improves we won't win enough games no matter how well we play between both boxes," said Artell.

"If we don't improve our goals/chances ratio we won't win games like the ones we lost against Gillingham and Ipswich, so there are areas for improvement."

But while he seeks more goals from his front men, the manager was glad the late excitement cheered the supporters making their return to Gresty Road for the first time since March 7.

"When you win in the last minutes of a game, just like against Oldham last season, it is just that little bit more important, although from my point of view on Saturday it should have been decided before the last minutes.

"But it was great for the fans and while I'd rather have won 4-1 we are in the entertainment industry."