Manager heaps praise on young Alex battlers

Last updated : 27 December 2003 By Simon Turner

Dario Gradi was full of deserved praise for the young Crewe side that overcame Stan Ternent's Burnley yesterday. Flourishing strike duo Dean Ashton and Steve Jones were on the scoresheet to record a comfortable 3-1 victory over the visitors, who were awarded a late penalty after Luke Chadwick's comical dive.

Dario told BBC's Graham McGarry: "It was always going to be a hard game because I had so many kids out there," said Gradi. "They were superb to win a game where I thought the opposition out passed us for large parts of the game.

"We had to defend very well and catch them on the break, which did well. I thought Burnley would line up much more defensively than they did, which meant we enjoyed a lot of space behind them.

"Burnley will be thinking they did enough to earn at least a share of the points, but most teams think that."