Crewe Alexandra captain Neil Cox will undergo his shoulder operation today, which will rule him out for at least five weeks. The experienced Cox, who has been used as a midfield anchor man this season, by first team coach Steve Holland was an unused substitute in last night's 1-0 defeat to Carlisle.

Cox has played with the troublesome injury all season and needed to undergo the surgery now or risk further damage. The former Aston Villa and Middlesbrough man still hopes to return for the decisive run-in and has targeted the start of April for a possible return.

A frustrated Cox told crewealex.net: "Throughout my career I haven't missed that many games through injury, so it will be disappointing to be sidelined at an important stage of the season.

"I have had a long term problem with my shoulder. It has been playing up for around four or five years and when I fell on my shoulder against Yeovil this season it aggravated it a bit. I visited a specialist and he told me that I needed it operating on as soon as possible to avoid further damage in the future. If I have fallen on it again I could have been out for over nine months.

"There was a bone growing under the shoulder and I was finding it difficult to lift my arm up.

Neil added: "Hopefully, I will back sooner or later and be able to play six or seven games before the end of the season."