Alex hoping to have number one goalkeeper Ben Garratt for Bradford City trip this weekend.

Crewe Alexandra will hear the result of our appeal over Ben Garratt’s red card against Eastleigh later this afternoon. The club have appealed the red card on the basis of Garratt not preventing a clear goalscoring opportunity when he rushed out to face Eastleigh forward Yemi Odubade. Garratt also felt that Odubade had in fact made contact with his shins rather than the other way round.

The club remain hopeful that the red card and subsequent suspension for this weekend’s trip to Bradford City will be overturned on appeal.

Steve Davis certainly felt the red card was harsh at time as he could clearly see that Odubade had lost control of the ball and Ben Nugent would have comfortably collected it ahead of the Eastleigh forward.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “We viewed the footage again and decided to appeal the red card and we feel strongly that Ben shouldn’t have been sent off according to the laws of the game.

“We collated all the detailed evidence and submitted our worded statement to go with it. We have just told them how we saw it and I believed it was harsh at the time and I stand by that. It had a massive impact on the game but hopefully we will have a positive outcome once the panel draw their own conclusions.”