Manager to introduce mini pre-season to work on fitness

Steve Davis says that he will use the absence of a match this weekend to re-introduce his players to a mini pre-season. The Alex boss was concerned that Doncaster Rovers finished the game stronger than we did on Saturday, forcing home an equaliser with 10 minutes left and then pushing late on for a winner.

The Crewe Alexandra boss says the dressing room felt like a defeat on Saturday after we conceded that fairly late goal from a corner after Uche Ikpeazu had fired us into a first half lead.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “We were all disappointed not to have seen the game through on Saturday. It felt like a defeat in the dressing room afterwards but we couldn’t find that second goal when we were on top.

“If we had scored the second goal in the first half then I think we would have gone on to have won the game.

“We didn’t quite do enough and we lost concentration at a corner. That was disappointing because after all the hard work they had put in, we ended up conceding from a set-play. Our defending from set pieces has been a lot better but on Saturday we didn’t quite set up right.

“We switched off and that may have been down to fatigue. When we give a corner away, it is important that we don’t think that is a time to rest. We have to switch on and make sure we are ready.

He added: “We have two weeks off now and we can work on the endurance and their sharpness. We will do high intensity sessions and they will get their rest period. It will be a tough week for them.”