Steve Davis believes in his 18-year-old to be a match winner for us

Steve Davis has told the club’s official web-site that he will continue to use his teenager George Cooper sparingly, but admits that his young forward is certainly doing everything right in his quest to regain a starting place.

Cooper came off the substitutes’ bench to open the scoring against Preston North End on Sunday but Crewe couldn’t quite hold on long enough to see it through to the end. Crewe held on for another very useful point though and boss Davis was delighted with the Warrington-born Cooper.

Steve told crewealex.net: “George came on and did what we know he can do. He is a game changer for us and it was another very good finish from him. He took a quick tough and has fired into the corner of the net.

“It was a pity that we couldn’t quite hang onto that lead for a bit longer but credit to Preston because they had pressed us for much of the second half.

“We know that George will try and have a positive impact as a substitute. He will run about, try and be creative and makes things happen.

“We are always thinking about how we can get him into the team, into the system we are playing, because we know he is a quality player for us. He is still young and learning the game but you can see the quality he possesses.

He added: “I have put him in, taken him out and perhaps it is time to bring him back in. We will see how he does over the next couple of weeks and assess what we have available come the Gillingham game.”