RELIEVED Crewe manager Dario Gradi confessed that he would have settled for a share of the spoils after a six-goal thriller at Gresty Road.

Crewe's 4-2 win was their first home success in the League since the end of November and lifted them out of the relegation zone.

However, Gradi admitted that Burnley deserved some reward for their second-half performamce.

He said: "I wouldn't have begrudged them a point. I thought they played well and in the second half put us under a lot of pressure.

"They passed the ball better than us and we did well to keep them at bay.

"We had a bit of luck when their player (Ian Moore) kindly stopped one with his back but we defended better as the game went on.

"They didn't look quite as likely to score as they did at the start of the second half."

Crewe led 3-1 at the break with the help of two penalties.

And Gradi wasn't surprised when the Clarets were awarded a spot-kick themselves 12 minutes into the second half.

"The last thing I said to them at half-time was that the referee would want to even it up.

"I'm not saying cheat but if he could give a penalty he would," he said.

Neil Sorvel was the guilty party for tripping Glen Little and then having saved John Mullin's penalty keeper Ademole 'George' Bankole gifted Burnley another chance when upending Mullin himself.

"It's no good feeling sorry for yourself if you stick a leg out and then George gave a ridiculous penalty away.

"He made up for it with a good save from the first one and then did what he normally does for the second one, which is stand still.

"The next time there's a penalty I think I'll sub him for the other keeper !" Gradi added.

Paul Cook made it 3-2 but Dean Ashton's late strike wrapped up the win for Crewe as Burnley were denied a double that their efforts might have merited.

"I said to Stan that they played better here than they did at their place," said the Crewe boss.