Davis praise for Crewe number one after saves earn point

Crewe Alexandra boss Steve Davis praised his goalkeeper Ben Garratt after his talented young goalkeeper made a number of fine saves to keep Port Vale at bay. Garratt was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers on the opening day of the season and he was called upon twice to deny Louis Dodds and also produced expected saves to halt efforts from Sam Kelly and substitute Enoch Andoh.

Garratt was protected well by a resilient back four but when needed the England Youth International showed high concentration levels to make the necessary saves.

What made Garratt’s Man-of-the-Match display even more impressive was that it was his first appearance since he suffered that fracture in his leg against Barnsley back in February.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “Ben has been able to use the pre-season to work on his physicality and he has worked hard on that. He has worked on his strength and he continues to improve as a goalkeeper. His kicking has improved but like with everything there is still room for more.

“He is a fine shot stopper and his catching and coming for crosses is good. With the confidence he has, he is just getting better and better.

“When the team doesn’t play as well as you want then you have to rely on your goalkeeper to make saves at important moments in a game and when we needed him to, he was there for us as he usually is.”