DAVE Artell said Ipswich boss Paul Lambert should "do the lottery" after Crewe fell to an undeserved defeat in East Anglia.

Tall striker Oli Hawkins' second-half set-piece header decided the contest at Portman Road, but Crewe should have made the long journey home with at least a point.

Ipswich haven't conceded a goal at home this term, but the Alex came mightily close to ending that mean streak.

They were the best team before the break but keeper Tomas Holy stood between them and the lead, producing a fine save to deny Tommy Lowery who should have done better from point-blank range after Owen Dale cut the ball back.

Holy also kept out Lowery's near-post strike and Luke Offord's header in a second half in which Ipswich improved, but Crewe still posed a significant threat.

But the decisive strike was made by Hawkins, who collected his first goal since his summer moved from Portsmouth, burying a far-post header in the 62nd-minute after Alan Judge launched the ball over the box.

Artell said: "The best team lost, but we can take heart from the performance if not the result.

"We created numerous opportunities but if you don't put the ball in the net then you leave yourself wide open. I'm sure Paul is a very happy man and he should probably have a go at the lottery tonight.

"It's our first season back in League One for a while and we're coming to places like this and playing them off the park.

"If we keep performing like that, then we'll win more games than we lose. We were flat on Tuesday against Lincoln but much better today and if we had scored three or four goals there wouldn't have been any complaints."

Ipswich moved up to second in the League One table, but boss Paul Lambert admitted: "We rode our luck - in the first half we never turned up. But I've been in the game long enough to know you'll get things when you don't deserve them."

• Crewe are back in action on Tuesday night when they host Gillingham - 2-0 losers against Sunderland today - at Gresty Road, less than 48 hours before the new national lockdown is imposed.

But the EFL has been told by the government, that like the Premier League, all their competitions can continue.

The EFL released a statement tonight, which said: "We acknowledge the government's national efforts in tackling this outbreak and would hope that during this next phase of the crisis, our national sport, negatively affected by Covid-19 like many other industries, can continue to provide some form of welcome distraction and give people in our communities up and down the country a sense of normality in very challenging times."

Guidance is being drawn up for non-elite and grassroots sport.