Steve Davis says his new strike partnership will only improve over the festive period.

Crewe Alexandra boss Steve Davis was pleased with the promise his new strike force showed against Doncaster Rovers at the weekend. A tap-in from the Doncaster captain James Coppinger with 10 minutes remaining denied Crewe all three points after Uche Ikpeazu opened the scoring on the half an hour mark, but the Alex boss says there is plenty to work with after pairing Ikpeazu with fellow loanee Nicky Ajose.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “We only had two days to work with Nicky and Uche and on the Friday we were planning for Doncaster, so I was pleased with the way the two of them worked together.

“They showed some real promise as a partnership and were looking for one another. I thought they worked well off each other and caused them a lot of problems, especially in the first half.

“I am sure that the more they work together and play together the better they will become. They will get fitter but I thought they lasted longer than we thought they would because neither of them have had much football.

He added: “It is early in their development as a partnership but I thought the two of them showed on Saturday that they have the ability to link up well with each other and they certainly give us an option.”