Dario Gradi is hoping that his young striker AJ Leitch-Smith can continue to show his early season promise and keep the pressure on those ahead of him in the first team pecking order. The Crewe-born 20-year-old scored his first senior goal in the 7-0 demolition of Barnet on Saturday and the Alex boss remains convinced that the blonde striker can become a real bonus this season.

Dario told crewealex.net: "It was a fitting end to the game to see AJ score his first goal for the club. He is now 20 years-old and hasn't been able to make his mark on the first team yet.

"He has been very unlucky with injuries and in truth he is lucky to still be here because we never thought he would be fit enough to play professional football.

"We knew he was a talented boy, but he could never stay fit enough and didn't run around too much. He was always facing up and making the wrong decisions.

"I went to see him play for Curzon Ashton and he was lively and looking for goals. He was playing on the shoulder of the last man and running in behind and was a constant threat.

"He came back and has looked a threat but he was still facing up and trying to link the play up too much. We said to him that we want you making runs and running in behind defenders.

"He certainly did that on Saturday. It was a great team goal but AJ made a terrific run and he left the centre-half a million miles away. We always thought he would finish because he has always scored goals like that.

Dario: "If he can do that then we could have a name to add to the first-team squad."