Club hoping defender will make a return to training next week

"He has been away from the club for several weeks and he will need to catch up a bit with his match fitness, but it will just be nice to have his presence back with us."

"Hopefully, he will come back some time next week and get back involved with the group. He knows what the club think about him and we will help him as much as we can. It is a close knit family here and Duggy may need that release of getting back into it. They have had to sort a few things out at the hospital but we hope to have him back soon.

Steve Davis told the club's official web-site: "It has been a really emotional time and we all wanted Duggy and Nicola know that they were in our thoughts at Wembley. Duggy had helped us reach the final and he deserved to be there.

The support for Duggy and Nicola has been greatly appreciated by the couple and they would like to thank you.

The fans were brilliant on Wembley and on 6 minutes marked their support for the popular defender with a one-minute ovation. Ironically, captain Luke Murphy had just given Crewe the lead, officially timed in that sixth minute of play.

The players wanted to show their support and wore a t-shirt at the end of our 2-0 win over Southend United in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final to reflect the feeling that had gripped the club.

Steve Davis is hopeful that Adam Dugdale will be able to make an emotional return to training next week. The manager has been in contact with the club's defender ever since his newborn boy Jude was born with complications. Sadly, the little one lost his brave fight for life on the eve of our trip to Wembley and the news certainly overshadowed the team's build-up.