DAVE Artell was horrified by his players' decision-making in a lame home defeat at the hands of Morecambe.

Crewe's lack of alertness to first-half dangers posed from the flanks saw them two down before the half-hour mark against a side set up to play on the counter.

Despite a revival of sorts either side of the interval, during which visiting keeper Kyle Letheren frustrated the lively J'Neil Bennett twice and Callum Ainley, it was a performance that failed to match the attacking intensity of the morale-boosting weekend win over Burton.

While the lethargy at the back was costly. Whereas they had started off on the front foot against the Brewers, Crewe were caught out by the deliveries of one-time loan man Greg Leigh, who was given the freedom of the left flank to advance down.

Adam Phillips was first to react to Leigh's low trajectory across the six-yard box for the Shrimps' eight-minute opener. Then Rio Adebisi's last-ditch block was needed after Cole Stockton appeared to have punished Will Jaaskelainen's spill of another Leigh delivery.

The Lancashire side grabbed a second from another cross whipped in, this time from the right, by Wes McDonald with Arthur Gnahoua finishing off at the near post (28).

Bennett fashioned Mikael Mandron's 49th-minute strike which put Crewe back in contention. The Spurs youngster's powerful drive across the six-yard box was stabbed in by the Frenchman.

Mandron's angled volley was punched away by Letheren in the closing stages.

But all hopes of salvaging a point faded as another Morecambe break proved telling with Gnahoua, slipped clear by Cole Stockton, thrashing the ball into the top corner (85).

"For the first we let them walk into the box and the second goal was similar, but worse. In possession we made some horrific decisions," said Artell. "You cannot perform like we did and expect to win the game.

"Don't take anything away from Morecambe because they came and frustrated us, but it wasn't Morecambe that frustrated me tonight – it was our own decision-making that did.

"But we've got a young group and we've got to dust them down and make them go again."

Crewe: Jaaskelainen; Ramsay, Daniels, Thomas, Adebisi; Murphy, Lundstram, Robertson, Ainley (Finney); Kashket (Porter), Mandron, Bennett.

Suibs: Andersson, Jones, McPake, Delaney.