James Collins says youngsters will rise to the occasion at Vale Park.

James Collins says that places are very much up for grabs ahead of this Saturday’s local derby after Vale Park and that manager Steve Davis could make a number of changes following last weekend’s disappointing defeat at Peterborough.

According to the Crewe Alexandra boss only goalkeeper Ben Garratt emerged with any credit following the 3-0 defeat at London Road and his assistant Collins says that the manager has some decisions to make ahead of our meeting with Port Vale.

Collins admits though that the club’s management team will not hesitate to play youngsters such as Callum Ainley, Charlie Kirk and George Cooper at Vale Park because they believe that they will play with no fear.

Collins told crewealex.net: “The manager would be entitled to make a number of changes for the weekend because we all know that the Peterborough performance was not good enough on the day.

“I don’t think there will be any players, Ben (Garratt) aside who could have any argument about being left out. They know that they didn’t play to their potential at Peterborough.

“It is up to the manager who he picks and he will have some difficult decisions to make because he wants a reaction against Port Vale because no-one was happy with our performance last week.

“If they are selected then the young players will be fine. They won’t be fazed by playing in a local derby. I wouldn’t worry about them. They have played in front of a large crowd at Sheffield United and George Cooper was arguably our best player at Millwall on the day.

James added: “I’m sure they would relish the challenge and rise to the occasion. Our kids can play in any situation and young players often play without fear.”