Lee Bell praised the impact substitute Shilow Tracey made as Crewe upset League Two leaders MK Dons with a stirring second-half comeback.
Tracey set up Conor Thomas’ equaliser and also had an assist in Courtney Baker-Richardson’s close-range finish which turned the game on its head.
Jonathan Leko blasted Graham Alexander’s side ahead in the eighth minute, but Crewe were the better side after the break as they registered their second success of the campaign and inflicted a first defeat of the season on MK Dons.
Bell said: “MK Dons are a good team, but I felt we’d played okay in the first half when we’d put some good football together and we perhaps should have scored. But the message I gave to the players at half-time was that we couldn’t keep gifting goals.
“And we were very good in the second half, so I am delighted for the players as they worked very hard for that against a team bang in form and top of the league.
“But I feel we’ve got good players and we’ve brought in some good players in the last week which is going to help up us.
“I’ve never subbed a player whose just scored a goal (Conor Thomas), but we needed to get more on the front foot and Joe White did well when he came on.
“As did Shilow Tracey who had a massive impact on the game. Shilow needs to believe in himself as he is a game-changer. The type of performance he put in in the second half is what we want to see from him. I left him out and he perhaps wanted to prove a point to me.”
It had looked promising for the visitors when Leko followed up to crash home an angled drive.
But Crewe emerged as a force and Mickey Demetriou fired a rebound into the side netting after Tabiner’s effort was parried by Craig MacGillivray just before the hour.
The hosts were level minutes later when Thomas was picked out by Tracey and unleashed a low shot into the bottom corner. When MacGillivray could only push out another Tabiner effort, Baker-Richardson finished from close range (69).
Alexander’s side responded without real conviction, although Harvey Davies did well to keep out Max Dean’s effort from hitting the corner. But Chris Long sealed victory when he rifled into the corner in the last minute.
MK Dons boss Alexander says he has drafted in some experienced campaigners to maintain his side’s good start following a busy deadline week.
Defenders Joe Tomlinson and Anthony Stewart have been signed as well as midfielder Jack Payne and striker Ellis Harrison, with Payne and Tomlinson used off the bench in the second half at Gresty Road.
“I think we’ve got a real strong team as the points on the board suggest,” said Alexander. “But we’re delighted with our business we’ve done [in the transfer window]. It is players we know and it’s plug in and play really on the talent side but we have to see where they are fitness wise. We’ve got time now to put that work in place.”
On the game, Alexander said: “If you look at the first half then we should have gone on to win the game. Looking back at Crewe’s goals then it is really basic errors we’ve made there.
“I don’t think it was down to any individuals going missing, it was about not sticking to our principles after we’d done so well in the first half.”
Spalletti willing to switch things up after 'mistakes' in Spain defeat
Luciano Spalletti is aiming to get Italy back to their best against Croatia on Monday after admitting to not getting things right during their defeat to Spain.
Spain secured top spot in Group B after their 1-0 victory over Italy on Thursday, with Riccardo Calafiori's own goal handing La Roja the win in the 55th minute.
Despite the narrow scoreline, Italy struggled to test their counterparts in the final third, managing just four shots in the match, with Unai Simon only having to make one save.
Spalletti had named the same starting line-up from their comeback win over Albania but used all five of his changes by the 64th minute.
The head coach admitted even that was not soon enough for his team, but is confident Italy will bounce back on Monday.
"Of course, after a game like that, there is the notion and the idea to change the team a little bit," Spalletti said.
"I probably made mistakes in not mixing things up quicker in terms of the performance we produced, but I thought it would be a gamble to tweak anything because we saw everything that had been said in recent times.
"Now that we have noticed that there is a bit of fatigue and rust in terms of results, we certainly will change things."
Italy know that a win will confirm second place in the group, while a defeat will either knock them out immediately if Albania beat Spain or leave them waiting to see if they can go through as one of the best third-place teams.
"There are certain matches which ultimately dictate whether it's been a great tale or a tale to forget, so the glory of your tale comes down to matches such as this," Spaelletti added.
"Talk is cheap, you've got to go out there and walk the walk. We said things we weren't able to exhibit against Spain, we need to walk the walk and leave talk to one side."
Albania's Daku banned by UEFA for two games after offensive chanting
UEFA has banned Albania's Mirlind Daku for two games after the forward led supporters in nationalistic chants following Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Croatia at Euro 2024.
Daku grabbed a megaphone before joining in with offensive chants about Serbia and North Macedonia after full-time in Hamburg.
Issues persist at the European Championship in Germany, with chants relating to historic political and ethnic tensions in the Balkans region.
"Daku will be banned for a total of two UEFA representative team competition matches for which he would be otherwise eligible," a statement from European football's governing body said on Sunday.
"[Daku] failed to comply with the general principles of conduct, violated the basic rules of decent conduct, used sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and brought the sport of football into disrepute."
Daku has since apologised for his actions but will miss Monday's game against Spain in Dusseldorf, where Albania could book their place in the knockout stages for the first-ever time with victory.
The Albanian Football Association sent out a statement to issue an "appeal to all Albanian fans to be more responsible and avoid the creation of these totally avoidable incidents and riots".
Albania's football federation has also been fined €47,500 for lighting fireworks, a pitch invasion and transmitting provocative messages not fit for a sports event during the same match.
Meanwhile, Croatia were also penalised for lighting and throwing fireworks during the game, with UEFA issuing a €28,000 fine.
Serbia had already threatened to withdraw from the tournament over the chanting by Croatia and Albania fans at their match before the Serbia FA condemned "shameful racist behaviour" in a separate statement.
France v Poland: Deschamps remains calm despite Les Bleus' struggle for goals
France manager Didier Deschamps says he is "not concerned" with his side's recent struggles in front of goal ahead of their final Euro 2024 group game against Poland on Tuesday.
Les Bleus are all but through to the knockout stages of the European Championships, sitting joint-top of Group D with four points, but need to avoid defeat to ensure progression.
Yet France's only goal at the tournament so far has come courtesy of Maximilian Wober turning into his own net in the opening 1-0 victory over Austria, before a goalless draw with the Netherlands on Friday.
France failed to score with any of their 15 shots in a wasteful display against the Oranje as Deschamps went without Kylian Mbappe, who was only fit enough for the bench due to his broken nose.
Asked about Les Bleus' profligate showings, Deschamps responded: "I am not concerned. It is just the name of the game.
"Sometimes you have countless chances and don't hit the back of the net, and sometimes it is the other way round.
"I would be worried if there were not any chances. Efficiency at high-level football is important, and it is something we can work on.
On Mbappe's fitness, Deschamps added: "Everything is going in the right direction; he is recovering from the shock, there is the haematoma part which will diminish each day, he will get used to his mask, which modifies the vision a little. But he is fine."
Poland became the first side to be eliminated from the tournament following France's draw, after they lost their opening matches to the Netherlands (2-1) and Austria (3-1).
They have faced their own problems without Robert Lewandowski, who missed the start of the tournament due to a hamstring injury before appearing from the bench against Austria.
"We are depressed by this result, but we still have one more game in our group, and we need to put our best foot forward and try to win three points," Lewandowski said.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
France – N'Golo Kante
N'Golo Kante was a surprise inclusion in Deschamps' squad for the tournament after a two-year absence from the national side, but his performances so far have earned him the Player of the Match award in their opening two games.
The midfielder has made more major tournament appearances without losing than any other European player, with France unbeaten in all 17 games he has played across the Euros and World Cup (W12 D5).
Poland – Piotr Zielinski
Poland may be out of the tournament but will be desperate to go down fighting, with Piotr Zielinski again expected to be key here.
Zielinski has been directly involved in more shots than any other Poland player at Euro 2024 (11 – seven shots, four chances created), as well as completing the most passes for his side (68) across the first two rounds.
MATCH PREDICTION: FRANCE WIN
This will only be the third meeting between France and Poland in a major tournament, and the first at the Euros. Poland won a third-place play-off match 3-2 at the 1982 World Cup, while France triumphed 3-1 in the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup.
Including all competitions, France are unbeaten in their last eight meetings with Poland (W4 D4), since losing a friendly match 4-0 in August 1982.
Les Bleus simply need to avoid defeat to qualify for the knockout stages, and they are unbeaten in their eight games in the group stage at the Euros under Deschamps (W4 D4), with their last such defeat coming on MD 3 versus Sweden at Euro 2012 (2-0), under Laurent Blanc.
Meanwhile, Poland have lost both of their games at Euro 2024 so far but have never previously suffered three defeats in a single group stage at a major tournament.
Poland have lost their final group stage match in three of their four previous appearances at the European Championships, with the exception being a 1-0 win against Ukraine in 2016 – the only time they have reached the knockout rounds of the competition.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
France – 73.9%
Draw – 14.8%
Poland – 11.2%
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