Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell will assess the hip injury to Harry Pickering before deciding whether the left-back is fit enough to travel to Newport County this weekend.

Pickering bumped his hip bone when going in for a tackle against Crawley Town on Tuesday evening and although he tried to struggle on, he was eventually forced off and replaced by Oli Finney late on.

The club are hopeful that the injury set-back is not too severe and that he will be able to travel to South Wales for our weekend fixture.

Crewe do welcome back centre-half Olly Lancashire from suspension. The defender served his one match ban against Crawley on Tuesday following his red card for two bookable offences against Walsall.

In his absence, Nicky Hunt, fit from his own knee problem, made his first start of the season and helped Crewe to a 2-1 win at the People’s Pension Stadium.