Boss backs young Welshman to grab his chance.
Steve Davis has challenged Callum Saunders to grab his opportunity in the first-team. The 20-year-old was handed his seventh career start at Chesterfield at the weekend and with Ryan Seager’s loan deal from Southampton prematurely ending due to injury, the chance is there for the young Welshman to cement a place in the starting XI.
Davis chose Saunders ahead of fellow youngsters Charlie Kirk and Callum Ainley and he had one great chance to fire Crewe back into the game at 2-0 down. His very clever run to latch on to a Brad Inman through pass, saw him one on one with the Chesterfield goalkeeper Tommy Lee but from a tight angle, he pulled his effort wide of the far post.
Saunders worked hard alongside target man Marcus Haber and was later replaced for scholar Charlie Kirk in the second half.
Steve Davis told the club’s official web-site: “The chance is there for Callum and he wants to do well for the team.
“We know he is a finisher because he has scored goals all the way through the Academy and at Under-21 level but he now has to take that into the first-team. He knows it is down to him and his own performances if he wants to cement a place in the team every week.
“This is his time and he has to become more consistent and score goals. He knows that and it is up to him to make it happen.
“To be fair, the illness he had took a lot out of him. He had a virus and it set him back because he lost a lot of weight and it took him a bit of time to get that back.
He added: “He needs to get goals. He had a good chance on Saturday and he would have felt he should have at least hit the target after he had ran in behind. Their player got through in as similar position early in the second half and has whacked it into the bottom corner. They are the defining moments in any game.”