Steve Davis also an admirer of Keith Hill's hard working Rochdale side.

Steve Davis expects another difficult encounter against Rochdale this evening after previously meeting them only ten days ago. Crewe Alexandra won that day thanks to first half goals from the in-form Marcus Haber and Brad Inman but although the Railwaymen deserved the three points that day, Keith Hill’s side still conjured up some genuine chances of their own.

Ben Garratt was in top form again to deny the likes of Ian Henderson from giving our North West rivals a passage back into the contest at Gresty Road.

Ahead of this evening’s encounter at Spotland, Steve told us: “Keith made five changes on Saturday so he has been able to juggle things around and look to find that winning formula.

“They have had some indifferent from of late but we are proof that things can change very quickly. You can go from not winning for a few games to going unbeaten very quickly. We have shown that and that is because the league is very close, it’s all very tight.

“We are not in the situation at the moment where we can make five changes.

“Whoever Keith selects will come into the side and fit the system. They have a particular way of playing. They play with a high energy and are always hard working.  We know what to expect.

“The fact that we played them earlier this month and got a result doesn’t matter too much. The game was re-arranged after it was called off on Boxing Day and we had to take the first available date, which is this one but it’s fine. It doesn’t matter to us. We are looking forward to it.

“We know it is a tough place to go and we found it extremely tough there last season, so we know we will have to defend better than we did that night.

The Alex boss added: “The pitch I’m told is much like ours, so we will have to adapt to the conditions. We have to adapt accordingly, but one thing is for sure we will give it a real go.”