James Collins says emergence of kids has been a real positive from disappointing season.

Crewe Alexandra’s assistant manager James Collins says that the emergence of our young players has been the positive to take from a disappointing campaign.

Boss Steve Davis has continued to give youth a chance to show what they can produce at first team level. The likes of Callum Ainley, Charlie Kirk, Joe Howell, Ryan Wintle, Perry NG have all made debuts this season and new signing Daniel Udoh showed promise when coming on as a substitute against Bradford City last month.

Collins says that the emergence of some promising young players always gives us hope going forward.

He told the club’s official web-site: “The young boys coming through gives us hope. It gives us something to work on and they would have learned a great deal from being involved this season.

“It is a young group, probably the youngest we have ever had, but we want to give our young players a chance and they form the basis of renewed hope for the future.

“It has been a tough few seasons for us at the bottom of League One. They are all tough games but the younger players are gaining from the experience.

“The likes of Ainley and Kirk have come in and shown some quality and that they are good players. We feel that in time they will prove to be excellent players for us. They have a lot to learn but the fans that have seen them would have been excited by their potential.

 “They can be inconsistent because they are still very young but to have two second year scholars in the team and more than holding their own is a good achievement.”