Harry Pickering has been described as a ‘real trooper’ by his boss David Artell after an aggravated groin injury kept him out of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Mansfield Town. Pickering has been playing through the pain barrier for the cause and Artell stressed that it was time to give the talented youngster a bit of a rest.

The on-loan Aaron Taylor-Sinclair came into the side at left-back against the Stags at the weekend and the Motherwell man performed admirably on his full debut for the club.

Artell has described the loss of Pickering of a loss, but indicated that his body was probably telling him he needed a period of rest.

The Crewe boss told crewealex.net: “It’s a blow, because we all know that Harry is a good player. He probably needed the rest. He couldn’t keep going, he’s been a real trooper over the last few weeks.

“He has managed to keep himself going but he played for an hour against Crawley and you see that it was hurting him, so we took him straight away for a breather. His body was telling him he needed a rest because he has played a lot of games for us this season.

He added: “But he will be back, it’s not a major injury and I am sure it will be a quick turnaround.”