David Artell has revealed to the club’s official website that Chris Porter and Olly Lancashire are fit enough to be considered for the first-team squad after coming through some minutes of a mid-week friendly against Blackpool.

Lancashire got 45 minutes under his belt as he steps us his return from a long-term Achilles problem and Porter played just over 50 minutes, scoring both our goals in a 2-2 draw. Porter has not featured since early December after sustaining a hamstring injury in our FA Cup replay with Eastleigh.

The Alex boss told crewealex.net: “The two lads came through unscathed, which was the objective of the friendly. They both felt fine and that is another major step in their recovery.

“Olly played 45 minutes and Chris played 52, 53 minutes, so they just need to keep topping up their fitness now. Could they step up to the first team and play 45 minutes? Probably but we don’t want them to fall at the final hurdle and for them to suffer another set-back.

“They are both training with us but if they can be involved with us at the weekend remains to be seen. We want to avoid pushing them too far too soon.”