Crewe Alexandra boss Lee Bell felt his side showed “magnificent character” to prevail at the death against Carlisle United.

The Blues were on the receiving end of an injury-time fightback as Crewe came from 2-1 down to win 3-2.

While United suffered a crushing defeat, the result buoyed the Railwaymen in their promotion challenge.

Bell said the way his players went to the end was to their credit in a high-scoring contest against Mike Williamson’s strugglers.

“From a neutral point of view it’s probably a good game of football, chances at either end, mistakes at either end for the goals from both teams, particularly ours for the goals they scored,” said Bell in a club interview.

“But [it was] magnificent character from the players to keep going, and it’s probably one of those types of wins that have been on the horizon a little bit.

“We always believe in the players and the quality we’ve got – it’s just about making good decisions and then having that quality which they showed when we’re 2-1 down, and it’s [about] goalscorers being where they need to be.

“We probably could have scored a couple more during the game, could have conceded another, but it was a really good win.”

Bell also commented on how the state of the pitch at the Mornflake Stadium had made passing football difficult to play throughout.

“The fans stayed around, after moaning a little bit when we went 2-1 down, on a pitch that’s impossible to play football on – their manager’s commented on it as well – and hopefully they enjoyed the end of the game,” Bell added.

“To score with literally the last kick of the game, with no time left for them to do anything – you couldn’t ask for anything better.”

While the result left Carlisle four points adrift of safety at the bottom of League Two, Crewe moved up four places to fourth.

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