First team coach Alex Morris says the staff got exactly what they intended from Saturday’s first pre-season friendly against Nantwich Town.

Crewe lost the opener 2-1 to David Cooke’s side at the Weaver Stadium but Morris says it was important to read more into it then just the result and performance.

Morris told the club’s official website: “Firstly the quality of performance wasn’t as high as it could have been but it was the first game of pre-season and the main thing is to get the players playing football again and remain injury free.

“You can do all the fitness work and weight training you want at Reaseheath but football fitness is very different. You want to get the legs going again and the volume of games will ramp up now.

“We haven’t done too much tactical work so far because the first 7 to 10 days of pre-season is about getting that foundation for fitness and you shouldn’t read too much into the results of the first three or four pre-season games. It is all about peaking for the first game in August against Plymouth Argyle.

“We got what we wanted to do out of Nantwich. Most of the players got 45 minutes under their belts.”