Alex boss says Marcus Haber began to play to his strengths to become a key player

Steve Davis has praised the improvement in his target man Marcus Haber. Haber ended his first season at the club with a return of 8 goals from his 40 appearances and his crucial goals against the likes of Coventry and Walsall went a long way in seeing Crewe safe on the final day of the campaign.

The former Stevenage and West Brom striker will miss a large chunk of the club’s pre-season because of his involvement with the Canada national side and his proposed call-up for the forthcoming CONCAF Gold Cup in July.

The Alex boss told crewealex.net: “We will lose Marcus for a large proportion of the pre-season and depending on how well Canada do in the tournament, he could only come back to us two or three weeks before the start of the season.

“On the plus side, he will be a in training camp with the Canadian national side and will get some game time, so he should come back fit.

“Marcus enjoyed his first year with us and he improved. It began to click with him because we had been on to him to do the things that he is good at.

“We wanted him in those positions at the far post and he scored some important goals for us. His touch and awareness is better than people give him credit for.

Steve added: “He still relatively young and has room to improve. I’m sure he will only get better.”