David Artell says it is great to have Harry Pickering fit and available again after he made a successful return from a hamstring tear.

Pickering suffered the injury late on in our heavy defeat at Colchester United at the end of August but Artell turned to the midfielder as we searched for an equaliser against Lincoln City on Saturday.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told the club’s official website: “It is great to have Pixie back with us because he is an excellent player. He was a bit rusty when he came on against Lincoln but that is to be expected because he is ahead of schedule.

“You want your better players to be fit and available and we have missed him. If he had not had the injury, he could have played higher up the pitch for us and given us another option.

“We have to be cautious not to over load him because we don’t want to lose him again. Before his injury, he was going along really nicely, so it would great for us if he can get back to that.”