Crewe youngster Harry Pickering was handed a breather against Northampton Town on Saturday. The left full-back has been playing through the pain barrier in recent weeks and manager David Artell believes it was the right time to give the talented Academy graduate a rest.

The on-loan Jamie Sterry came into the side at left-back for his first start for the club since joining us from Newcastle United. Fellow loanee Aaron Taylor-Sinclair would have started the game as the more natural left-back by his injured his thigh in training on the Friday.

David explained to crewealex.net: “Harry has been struggling with some discomfort for a fee weeks now and we just felt that it was time we took him back out and gave him a breather.

“He has battled on admirably with us for a number of games now and we felt that his performances were slightly below par because of it. He certainly hasn’t been his usual standard of late and that was a disservice to him.

“Harry has played a lot of games and a small rest will do him good. I am sure he will be back soon and ready to go again.

The boss added: “Aaron would have played on Saturday but I got a call from the physio at 8am and I knew it wasn’t going to be good news. He explained that Aaron had tweaked his thigh practicing corners on Friday and that he wouldn’t be right. He won’t be out too long.”