Steve says free weekend has given his forwards a chance to recover

Steve Davis admits that our ‘free weekend’ may have come at just the right time. Crewe Alexandra were without a fixture at the weekend due to Bury’s involvement in the FA Cup and whilst the Alex boss says everyone was eager to get the Coventry result out of the system, the break will allow some of his players to get over some knocks.

Steve is hoping that his forward players Marcus Haber and Ryan Colclough will be able to progress through training unscathed this week and in turn declare themselves fit to travel to Swindon for this weekend’s fixture.

Canadian Haber had been struggling with a foot injury, while winger Colclough had a succession of knocks against Coventry City that left him unable to train with any real consistency last week. The club are also hoping that youngster Callum Saunders will be well enough to train after recently struggling with a throat infection. The young Welshman has lost some weight due to the illness.

January. ^ndAnother week will only have benefitted Brad Inman, who has been used sparingly by the Alex boss after he was on the receiving end of a few hefty challenges against Eastleigh in the FA Cup and away at Blackpool. Inman had become a marked man and Davis was adamant that the former Newcastle United youngster needed a short break. He came off the bench during our last outing against Coventry City on 2

Steve told crewealex.net: “If we had played last weekend then we would have been a bit short. We had a number of players out with injury and illness and at one point last week we had 14 fit players out of a squad of 26, so that was a lot of players missing.

“With Kingy and Lowey going back after their loan deals, we were a bit short up front. We have Lauri (Dalla Valle) out long-term with his ankle. Marcus and Coco did not really train and Callum (Saunders) was ill.

“We only had really George Cooper and Brad Inman fit for those forward positions so having no fixture probably did give us a chance to get some of them back for this weekend.

“After a heavy defeat, you just want to play as soon as you can but the extended break has allowed us to get back out on the training ground and work with the players.

He added: “Everyone is remaining positive. They are a strong group of players and now it is up to them to transfer what they do on a regular basis in training into the matches.”