David Artell has told the club’s official web-site that Chris Dagnall has deserved the honour of being named captain of the club. Last season’s player-of-the-season scored the winning goal at Vale Park on Saturday to propel Crewe up to fourth in the table. It was his second goal of the season.

Artell says that the 31-year-old continues to lead by example.

“Daggers deserves the armband. He has been absolutely terrific again for us. He leads by example and goes about his business in a quiet way. He knows when to speak and when not to speak and the younger lads look up to him, ‘ said the manager.

“He leads by his actions on and off the pitch. After he didn’t score in pre-season there were murmurings about him being a flash in the pan or not having the same sort of impact but we knew. He is the cream. He has been there, done it and has plenty of t-shirts.

“We were saying to him the other day, we just don’t want him to the top scorer at the club, we want him to be the top scorer in the league. He is up and running and we have goals in this team.”