Steve Davis says he may give one or two members of his squad a chance to stake their claim

Steve Davis has admitted that he may use Tuesday night’s Capital One Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers to give others in his squad a chance. The Crewe Alexandra boss may look to freshen things up and provide an opportunity for members of his squad to stake their claim for a starting place again.

Chris Atkinson, who came on for only his second appearance for the club at Swindon on Saturday, and Liam Nolan may earn a recall after the on-loan Stoke City midfielder Jamie Ness was forced off with injury just after the half an hour mark.

Brad Inman’s two goals for the club’s Under-21s against Brentford last week could see him earn a recall and of course, Davis has another fine goalkeeper in Scott Shearer if he wishes to rotate his number one position again.

Jon Guthrie returned at left-back for Greg Leigh at the County Ground on Saturday, as the only change to the starting line-up.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “There are always a lot of games in the early part of the season and it may be that we use the Cup game to look at one or two and give them their chance again.

“Other players in the squad may need a game, an opportunity to stake their claim and it is something we will sit down and discuss.

“The cup game may give us a chance to look at one or two other options and ideas. We know it will be tough whatever team Dougie (Freedman) chooses to put out but I want us to have a go. I want us to be a lot more dangerous than we were at Swindon at the weekend.

“We haven’t started the season well at home this season. We were a bit unlucky to lose the Barnsley game and made too many defensive mistakes against Rochdale.

He added:“We have to make the Alexandra Stadium a difficult place to come and this is a good opportunity for us to show that we are a decent team. It should be a good atmosphere and we will do our best to try and get through.”