With captain Tootle on the verge of a return boss praises his young understudy

Steve Davis has told the club’s official web-site that he will remain cautious with his young full-back James Baillie. In the absence of club captain Matt Tootle due to illness, the Academy graduate has emerged as a real find this season, but Davis says he will continue to look to protect the 19-year-old right back.

Baillie returned to the starting line-up for the visit of Doncaster Rovers on Saturday and he performed admirably up against the vastly experienced James Coppinger and when he swapped over wings, the impressive Curtis Main as well.

Steve explained his situation to crewealex.net: “With Matt ruled out for a few weeks, James has been a good option for us. He has done fine. There is often a little dip of form in young players and James came through that.

“He did some good things on Saturday and then not so good, but that is to be expected with a young  player. It can be a confidence thing and when he needed to come out of the team we took him out.

The boss added: “We have used him when he could and he has certainly not let us down. He is still a young kid but has shown his potential in the games he has featured and that is all we could ask of him.”