David Artell has praised the professionalism of Jordan Bowery and George Ray after they helped the club’s Under-23s to a 2-0 win at Colchester United on Monday. Both senior players were left out of the Crewe first-team squad for the visit of Notts County but Artell was quick to point that the decision was made with ‘one eye on next season’.

Both Ray and Bowery are heading out of contract this summer and Artell is unsure whether their futures will remain at Gresty Road.

The Crewe boss told us: “I said after the Notts County game that I had spoken to George and Jordan and that they understood the situation we were in. They know that I have to have one eye on the future.

“They are two good professionals and two good lads and they play for Crewe Alexandra. Most of the time that is for the first-team but on Monday they played for the Under-23s, there is nothing strange in that. They both need ticking over and it doesn’t mean I won’t play them again this season in the first team.

“A number of our senior players have played in the Under-23s at some point this season. Hunty has played, Alex Nicholls, Shaun Miller, Michael Raynes has featured, Dave Richards has played most weeks.

“This time it just happened to be George and Jordan and it just happened that it was away at Colchester. It is isn’t ideal on a Monday night, but they stayed over and we did things properly.

“They played, both did well, George scored and we got the result we needed.”