Last night David Artell completed the signing of Wigan Athletic defender Sam Stubbs on loan until January following a succession of injuries to his defenders. With George Ray still recovering from his back injury and both Michael Raynes and Perry Ng suffering ankle injuries, the Alex boss moved quickly to bolster his defensive options with the signing of Stubbs.

The 18-year-old centre-half is the son of the former Bolton, Celtic and Everton defender Alan Stubbs and will be in contention for involvement away at Grimsby this weekend.

Artell told the club’s official web-site: “We have a few injuries at the moment, especially with the back players, so we have signed Sam on loan to make sure we have the numbers in the first half of the season.

“We played against Wigan Athletic behind closed doors in the pre-season and Sam was terrific. He certainly has pedigree with who is dad is and they understood that it is beneficial for him to come out on loan and play some games.

“He knows he has to come here and fight for his place. We are unbeaten in the league so he has a challenge on but he impressed us in all pre-season and now he can go on and prove us right.”