Experienced goalkeeper back between the sticks following Martin hip injury
Veteran goalkeeper Steve Phillips is set for a recall for tomorrow night’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie again Accrington Stanley after Alan Martin picked up a hip injury against Swindon Town on Saturday. Phillips, 35, is set to play his first competitive game since featuring in a 1-0 win over Sheffield United at the end of last season.
Phillips lost his starting place to Martin for the opening day of this season and has to wait patiently for his opportunity to re-stake his claim. The former Bristol City goalkeeper is just four games shy of making 600 first class appearances during his career.
Steve Davis told the club’s official web-site: “Alan got a knock on his hip and that will give Steve his chance. It was possible that a change may have occurred anyway because Alan will know that he has not done as well as you would have expected. He has had long enough to stake a claim.
“If I’m honest neither of them have excelled in training and neither has stood out over the other. Ben (Garratt) has quietly been getting on with his business and has been doing fine. I just think it would be wrong to bring a young goalkeeper into the team at the moment. I don’t think he deserves that and it wouldn’t be beneficial to him.
“If we were top of the league and flying then I would not hesitate to put Ben into the team. Perhaps it is time for Steve, with all his experience to show what he can do. He has done fantastically well for the club over the last two seasons and I’ve no doubts that he will come in and do really well.”
Crewe are also without the injured Byron Moore (quad), Ollie Turton (foot), Thierry Audel (ankle) ad long term absentee Mathias Pogba (knee)