DAVE Artell wants Crewe to make the most of a run of home games to ensure they are not caught adrift in League One's basement.

After the visit of MK Dons to the Mornflake Stadium on Saturday (K.O 3pm), the Railwaymen have a potentially pivotal evening with second-bottom Doncaster arriving in South Cheshire for next Tuesday's (Nov 2) re-arranged fixture.

After cup assignments, also in front of their own fans, against Swindon and Wolves, a Friday night away trip to Bolton (Nov 12) is followed by their third game in four at home in the league when Gillingham are the visitors (Nov 20).

The Alex boss says while he doesn't particularly grade groups of games as potentially more productive than others, he accepts Crewe need to avoid having to play catch-up on their rivals.

Currently, lying bottom after last weekend's agonising stoppage-time defeat at second-placed Wycombe, Crewe are six points off fifth-bottom Shrewsbury, but with a game in hand on Salop.

"We've got four, five or six on the spin at home, so we know we have a great opportunity to pick up points and start climbing the table," said the Crewe boss.

"There are no easy games. They're all hard games. It's always important to get wins whether you're top, middle or bottom."

Asked about his side's game management with precious points having vanished also late in the game against Cambridge (after leading 2-0) recently, Artell said: "It is one of the areas we can improve on and we would have had more points - there's other areas.

"From the pre-season we've had and the upheaval [in the summer] we're doing okay. But we've got to make sure we pick up points to make sure that we are competitive, so when our development does start rewarding us we haven't given ourselves too much to do."

Tommy Lowery, reinstated to the first-team scene and a goalscorer at Wycombe, could start against an MK side now under the director of football model with Liam Manning arriving from Belgian football as head coach when Russell Martin left for Swansea in August.

On Lowery, Artell said: "Tom is a good player and he'll improve us and that is important.

"We will try and pick a team to win the game and the formation will win the game hopefully as well whether that's three at the back, or four or six or two.

"MK Dons haven't changed their philosophy. They've got a director of football who is young, keen and eager and they have appointed a manager with a bit of experience of America and six months in Belgium and he's come in and picked up where Russell Martin left off.

"I'm sure they are still finding their feet slightly, but they are 15 to 20 games in now. MK Dons play the right way and it will be a good game."