Steve pleased to have playmaker back from injury.

Steve Davis says having his midfield playmaker Billy Bingham back in the first team on Saturday gave the dressing room a lift ahead of our game at Bradford.

Bingham, who signed in the summer from Dagenham, was making his first appearance in the first team since August when he aggravated his hamstring in a 1-0 defeat away at Wigan Athletic. The Alex boss has had to wait 9 weeks to have his midfielder fit and available for selection and he described his return to the squad as a 'breath of fresh air.'

Although, Bingham could not inspire us to a result at a rain sodden Bradford, he was still one of Crewe’s best performers before he was withdrawn with 20 minutes left.

The Alex boss told the club’s official web-site: “It was really good to have Billy back with us. It was a breath of fresh air to have him available. He is a good player and he was our oldest player at Bradford at just 25.

“It was a pacey game for him to come back into it but I thought he handled it well and settled into the game. He did some really good things in the game before he tired.

“I took him off because I didn’t want him to get injured when he was fatiguing. We don’t want to lose him again because he can become an important player for us.

He added: “We took him off to give him that time to recover. I’m sure he will get a week of training under his belt and be ready for next week.”