Boss says LDV will need a bit of time to get up to speed after missing out on 6 months of football

Steve Davis says there is a lot more to come from his Finnish striker Lauri Dalla Valle after he made his first start on his return to the club against the MK Dons. Like everyone in an Alex shirt on Saturday, Dalla Valle found it difficult against arguably the outstanding side in League One but Davis stresses that the new partnership with Nicky Ajose will need a bit of time to click.

The former Fulham and Liverpool striker has missed a lot of football after leaving for Norway and Italy to continue his career away from Britain, but the Alex boss is backing the 23-year-old to rediscover the form that saw him net 5 goals in just 10 appearances during his previous spell with us on loan in 2012-13.

Steve told crewealex.net: “It will take Lauri to get back to best because he has missed a lot of football. He hasn’t played a lot of football since the summer and he is short of match fitness.

“It will take him time to get up to speed with the other players and it will be a gradual thing for him. He is nowhere near his peak condition yet and there is plenty more to come from him.

“Of course, we do not have that time and in an ideal world he would have had four or five more Under-21 games to work on his match fitness, but Lauri is a good pro and works hard every day.

“He hasn’t played a lot and is behind the others, but on the other hand he should be fresher and that could be a real positive for us going into the last few months of the season. I am sure he will get up to speed and if he can score one or two goals then that will only give him the confidence to push on. “