DAVIES RULED OUT

Crewe Alexandra appeared to be set for a devastating news on defender Harry Davies, who appeared to have suffered a horrible injury. It was expected that he would be missing the next few months after being taken on a stretcher during the recent 3-0 defeat at the hands of Gillingham. Manager Steve Davis, though, has now confirmed that the defender will miss the next few weeks of action only, which is a huge relief for the club as a whole. The 22-year-old is expected to be back in action by the end of October.

It has been a difficult start to the new season for Crewe Alexandra, who could definitely do with a fully fit squad. After nine matches of the season, they are in the 18th position with six points on the board. They have not won in the last four matches, and Davis will certainly be hopeful of an early return for the defender. The team has been struggling a lot to prevent opposition from scoring goals, while they have also failed to take the chances that come their way. The last victory for the club came in the 1-0 win over Accrington Stanley in the League trophy.

Fleetwood town will be the next opponent in the competition. “It is more positive news involving Harry’s injury. He has suffered a grade one, which is the minor of those types of injuries. It is the best result we could have hoped for and it will be weeks rather than months. It looked serious at the time, because he doesn’t go down very often and he came off with physio Nick (Oakley) supporting the knee, so we feared the worse, so this is positive news. He should be out between three to six weeks depending on his recovery,” said the manager to the official website of Crewe Alexandra.

CREWE WANT INMAN

Crewe Alexandra have been in negotiations to bring in midfielder Bradden Inman for the last few weeks. The 21-year-old is going to be out of contract with the Magpies after saying that he will not sign a new contract. Since he is less than stipulated age required for a free transfer, Crewe Alexandra will have to pay a compensation fee for the Magpies. This is understood to be the main problem in completing the deal to bring the 21-year-old to Crewe Alexandra. Manager Steve Davis, though, has retained his hope that the deal will be completed before the start of the new season.

The club has had a poor run of form in the pre-season friendly matches. They have lost against the likes of Blackburn and Aston Villa in the pre-season matches, but Davis is hoping that this does not adversely affect the team when they open the season against Rotherham United in the first week of August. The club has only two home matches in the first five fixtures. Hence, they will be straightaway under pressure to get three points, and the arrival of Inman would certainly help the club get a victory in the opening match.

Davies, though, has confirmed that Inman is not expected to start the first match because he does not have a lot of match fitness.

“We are not that close yet, we still have a bit to do, it’s ongoing. I will speak to the chairman and see what we can do in the near future which will be, who knows, a week, two weeks. Hopefully less than that. He’s not very fit to be fair, he has a lot to do he is way behindĀ  the other lads are. The tests show he is quite a way behind,” said the Crewe Alexandra manager.

NO TRUTH

Crewe Alexandra manager Steven Davis has said that there is no truth in the rumours linking him with a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who recently sacked their manager Dean Saunders. After their relegation from the Championship, Dean Saunders was recently sacked by the club. This was the second successive relegation for the club in 12 months, as they were Premier league club only a year ago. Bookmakers have installed Davis as the favourite to take over at the Molineux before the start of the new season.

However, the 47-year-old has said that he is not in discussions with Wolves, as he is only concentrating on the next season with Crewe Alexandra. He also said that he is extremely happy to be linked with a club like Wolves, but he is going to stay with Crewe. Davies managed to get the club from League Two into League One after taking over as the manager in 2012. They were expected to struggle in League One, but they have so far exceeded expectations by finishing in the mid-table. Crewe Alexandra finished the season on the 13th position with 64 points on the board.

It is expected that they will be pushing for a play-off place next season.

“It is flattering to be linked with any job because it is means you have been successful at your respective clubs. You just have to take that speculation in your stride and get on with things and that is what I’ve done on a few occasions here. I don’t tend to react to speculation and it has never been a distraction to me. All I’m doing is preparing the Crewe Alexandra squad for next season and have been kept busy talking to players, agents and discussing things,” said Davies. The club are expected to sign a couple of players in the summer.

HAPPY WITH FIRST LEG

The Crewe Alexandra Steve Davis has said that he is extremely happy with the performance of his players in the first leg of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy North final. Crewe Alexandra took on Coventry City in an exciting final knowing that they have to work hard in order to have any chance of reaching Wembley. Despite playing away from home, the Crewe players managed to take advantage of some lapse defending from Coventry to win the match 3-0. As a result, they are now extremely close to the final of the competition. The manager Steve Davis, though, has said that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Crewe were taking on Coventry, who were being spurred by more than 30,000 supporters. As a result, they came under a lot of pressure in the first half of the match. However, they managed to take advantage of the enthusiastic attacking from Coventry City to break on the counter and score themselves. Inman scored the first goal of the evening in the 52nd minute, and he doubled his tally on the night with a great effort in the 78th minute. However, it was the 85th minute goal from Leitch-Smith that has apparently put this tie out of Coventry City’s reach.

“This was what you don’t associate with Crewe, grit and determination. It wasn’t easy for them but they all came through with flying colours tonight – I’m very proud of them. It’s only the first part of it, but the gameplan we set up has worked – we set up to frustrate them a little bit and deny them opportunities. What we tried to do is get those little breakaways. We rode our luck, sometimes the goal led a charmed life but you need,” said Steve Davis after the match.

FULL OF GOALS

Crewe Alexandra have a squad that is full of goals according to the manager of the club Steve Davis. The club has just three defeats in all competitions since the turn of December. As a result, they are closer to the play-offs position than ever before, which is something that the club can achieve this season according to the manager. This is due to the presence of goals across the field. The club is currently in negotiations with the Premier league club Fulham over the possibility of signing Lauri Dalla Valle, who has been utilised a lot by the manager this season.

The 21-year-old has already made 10 appearances in all competitions while scoring five goals. His presence means that Davis has been able to rest a number of the star names like Pogba and Moore. Aneke and Inman have been two players who have also chipped in with their fair share of goals, which has helped the club rise to the 11th position in the table just three points below the play-offs position. Due to the fact that the club are not in the FA Cup, Davis feels that he can use the current situation to great effect and help the club finish in the play-offs.

“We know Ryan can get in great positions and get a goal, that’s why we put him on. He missed a free header from close range at the end and at Crewe we don’t see many headed goals very often, so maybe it’s something we need to work on. Chuks was fresh. I felt Brad was very tired against Carlisle United after playing four games in 10 days and Chuks is capable of being a big threat too. We weren’t far off getting the second goal we more than deserved,” said Davis after the 2-1 defeat against Stevenage.

FINGERS CROSSED

The Crewe Alexandra manager Steve Davies has said that he is still having his fingers crossed over the injury to the defender Kelvin Mellor. The defender has been out of action for the last couple of weeks, but Davies has said that he still cannot put a time frame for the return of the defender. Kelvin Mellor was injured quite badly in the recent match against Doncaster in the 2-0 victory for the club back in early November. He has not been part of the Crewe Alexandra squad for the last four matches, but the manager Davies has said that he is still at dark when it comes to his possible return date.

He has revealed that the player has been sent to take a scan so that it will reveal the progress that he has made so far. Davies has also revealed that he is getting a lot of encouragement from the striker Ajay Leitch-Smith, who missed the early part of the campaign due to ankle injuries. However, he has scored three goals in 12 matches so far this season. He is expected to return to first-team action this week, as the club prepare to take on Burton in the FA Cup second-round. Davies has also said that he is much more focused on bringing young players to the club rather than older players on huge wages.

“Kelvin will undergo a scan and hopefully we will get some encouraging news on him. He has improved and the knee has settled down a bit. The scan will inform us how much improvement he has made. He took a bit of impact on it, but he has worked hard and progressed well, so we are hoping that he will be back with us again soon,” said the Crewe Alexandra manager.