James Collins says it is going to be a big season coming up for Callum Saunders.

First team coach James Collins says that Callum Saunders knows that it is now time for him to step up and deliver. Saunders netted his second professional goal with a fine header to salvage Crewe a point against Colchester United last night and the club’s first-team coach believes that the Wales Youth International was always going to need time to develop physically.

James told the club’s official web-site: “It was good to see Callum score that type of goal. It was a clever run and a very good header. We were delighted for him.

“We always knew Callum would be a late developer like his dad and he knows that now is the time for him to do it. He knows that we cannot keep on waiting, so it is a big year for him.

“He has the burden and pressure of his dad’s career and that cannot be easy when your dad has scored so many goals at the top level but we gave Callum a longer contract than the others in his age group, at that time, because we knew it would take him longer to develop physically.

“We have had to wait for him to develop ad there is still some work to be done there but he is a goalscorer, who threatens by running in behind and he can finish. “