Crewe men given EFL permission to face Wigan Athletic after positive tests

Four of the Cheshire club’s squad have been self-isolating over the past week, with two of those players, Ryan Wintle and Omar Beckles, able to return to be part of an emphatic win driven by a powerful first-half display.

Beckles’ positive test was instrumental in the cancellation of last weekend’s fixture at Oxford.

But the defender - who trained with Wigan over the summer before joining the Railwaymen - was cleared to play by the EFL and managed 80 minutes off the bench, after former Latics man Donervon Daniels was injured attempting to force home an early chance.

Goals from Luke Offord, Harry Pickering and another ex-Wigan player, Mikael Mandron, secured a comfortable home win, with only the heroics of Latics goalkeeper Jamie Jones keeping the scoreline respectable.

And Artell was happy to round off a highly-pressurised period with the right result.

“It’s been the toughest week of my managerial career," he said.

"They don’t teach you that on these courses, but we just want to play football without taking risks with anyone’s health.

"And that will be the case going forward, as it was last week.

“We did level a little bit of criticism at them at half-time, as we felt we should have had four or five.

"If we become more ruthless in the box then someone is going to get a tonking.

“We’ve worked hard with the players and they have got better in every game they have played this season.

"And that gives us great hope that they are finding their feet at this level.”