DARIO Gradi admits his side must improve dramatically before contemplating life at the other end of the table.

Ambitious Notts County continued their promotion push with a relatively straightforward 2-0 victory over the Alex, last Saturday.

A goal in each half from former striker Luke Rodgers and Craig Westcarr condemned them to their seventh defeat in eight and an alarming 18th place in League Two.

“I was quite pleased with the way we played in the second-half,” explained Gradi.

“They’re a good team.

“If we’re going to be a promotion team in this division, we’re going to have to do better than that.

“The players are still whacking the ball about and shooting from 150 yards.”

Clayton Donaldson’s shock return upfront gave 500 Alex fans hope of seeing their side rip up the form book.

Just eight weeks after breaking his leg at Bournemouth, the former Hibs striker came close to capping his speedy comeback with an early goal at Meadow Lane.

Donaldson seized on an error and cut inside before firing just past Kasper Schmeichel’s right-hand post.

Promising stuff but with director-of-football Sven Goran Eriksson watching, County soon hit their stride and dominated.

Ashley Westwood deflected a close-range effort from old nemesis Lee Hughes off the line while Westcarr thumped the bar on the rebound.

Lucky to survive, Crewe were soon trailing when Rodgers raced onto Johnnie Jackson’s defence-splitting pass and found the top corner on 28 minutes.

Deployed up front, Joel Grant nearly improved their situation on the verge of half-time when Luke Murphy sent him through one-on-one.

Schmeichel produced a blinding one-handed save to thwart his strike before Edwards mopped up remaining danger.

Grant also conjured up Crewe’s brightest moment of the second-half, forcing the County stopper into another fine save but the killer blow arrived on 66 minutes.

Westcarr went past both James Bailey and John Brayford far too easily and dispatched a 20-yarder past David Button for three points.

Steve Schumacher could have sparked a tense finale from the spot after Grant was pushed by John Thompson in the box.

But Schmeichel won the mind games and saved the 77th-minute penalty before denying sub Shaun Miller late on.

“I would have enjoyed watching the last 15 minutes if we had scored the penalty,” added Gradi.

“It wasn’t a good penalty but I haven’t had too much time to work on the finer details of things like that.

“We can get better and will get better.

“Apart from the two goals, we looked more solid as a unit.

“The first was a joke, we gave him far too much space and that was really poor.

“For the second, the lad has shown something special.

“He’s gone through two of our players and smashed it into the bottom corner and that’s why he’s on the winning team.”

Crewe Alexandra: Button, Brayford, Westwood, Mitchel-King, Ada, Shelley, Schumacher, Bailey, Murphy (Miller 75), Grant (Verma 81), Donaldson (Moore 70). Subs not used: Legzdins, Walton, Davis, Tootle.

Attendance: 6,545.