David Artell is hopeful that Jordan Bowery and James Jones may play some part in training during the club’s open day on Friday. The Crewe Alexandra boss says that the injured pair have an outside chance of joining in with some light training on the Gresty Road pitch but he hasn’t set them a deadline to be fit.

Both Bowery and Jones have undergone hernia operations and although they have missed all the games in pre-season thus far, Artell says that they could yet be available for the opening weekend of the season.

Artell told the club’s official web-site: “Jordan and Jonah are progressing nicely. They have worked hard and they will train outside again today with the medical staff.

“We are hopeful that they could be involved in training on the pitch on Friday but we’ll have to wait and see. There is still a lot of time from now until the first game but I’ve not set a deadline on them. I just want them to be fit.

“They could take part in some light training at the open day and if they are okay then we could consider them for the trip to Quorn. At the moment they are progressing really well. “