David Artell says that having James Jones, George Ray and Ryan Wintle back from injury in the New Year ‘would feel like signing three players’. The Alex boss has had to contend being without Ray and Jones all season and Wintle has not played since fracturing his tibia in September.

The Alex boss is hoping that the trio can make progress in January and add to his squad options during the second half of the season.

Artell told crewealex.net: “The perfect scenario would be having the three lads back in January. It would be like signing three new players. I hope that happens because it would give everyone at the Football Club a massive lift.

“It is unlikely that will happen at the beginning of the month, so we will have to see how they are progressing before we make a decision on what we need to bring in. It will depend on how quickly they can re-join us.

“We will have those first couple of weeks in January to see the scale of what we need and what further business we may need to do. That is just me being open and honest.”