Notts County boss Neal Ardley has apologised to supporters after the twelve hundred who made the long trip to Crewe were left angered by yet Notts County deliver a desperate performance as they are well beaten at Crewe Alexandra.
The Magpies were bettered in all areas of the pitch at Gresty Road by a Crewe Alexandra side who many will argue have nothing left to play for in League Two.
Spurred on by a commendable draw at home to Northampton Town last weekend, Notts supporters travelled in their numbers along the A50 expecting to see the same level of fight that any fan base would grow expectant of in the final three weeks on a relegation fight.
Instead Ardley felt the need to apologise after full time, on an afternoon where his side never at any stage looked like threatening comfortable Crewe.
Neal Ardley can take no positives from dismal Notts County performance
"My message to the fans is that I am sorry for that performance," he said.
"I don't ever send a team out to play like that.
"We have done everything in the week that we have done in previous weeks when they have been celebrating like at Stevenage and against Northampton.
"We have to go back next week and work really, really hard."
David Artell's Crewe have been in fine fettle at home this season and Notts were more than wary of that heading into the weekend.
To cope, Ardley concentrated hard in the week on ensuring his side were clued up on how their opponents would work the ball and more importantly how to stop it.
But with so much focus on the opposition, the Magpies lost their attacking identity.
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"Maybe I tried to stop Crewe playing and forgot to play ourselves.
"I will take responsibility for the performance.
"We have got four games to go. I am not giving up. I don't expect my players to and I don't expect the fans to.
"But I will take responsibility. I am not going to hide from it. I am an honest man and I am giving it everything I can.
"But I am also not going to stand here and hammer my own players.
Notts County deliver a desperate performance as they are well beaten at Crewe Alexandra
"We have got four games to go and my players need leadership. They need me to step up and give them direction.
"We need to bounce back and the only way we can do that is to start next Friday."
