Leading scorer will get game time this week as he steps up his return to action

The club’s leading scorer, Chris Porter, was fit enough to play some part in our 2-1 win over Walsall on Saturday if needed. Porter has not featured for the first team since suffering a hamstring injury in our FA Cup replay against Eastleigh back in mid-December.

The striker, who has hit 10 goals in the first part of the season, was a surprise inclusion on the bench but after a consultation with head physio Owen Clarke, Porter and the club’s coaching staff, he was named in the squad of eighteen.

Porter remained an unused substitute as Crewe transformed the game around again to win 2-1 at the Bescot Stadium.

David Artell told the club’s official website: “We asked how Chris how he was feeling and then spoke to the physio and it was decided that he will be fit enough to play a certain amount of minutes if needed.

“If Chuma had gone down inside the first 10 minutes then he wouldn’t have been on, but if we needed him in the final 10 minutes then he would have gone on. Chris knew that, the physio knew that and we knew that from the offset.

“Chris will get some minutes this week. He has trained three times. Twice with us and once with the Scholars, so he was progressing all the time.

He added: “He’s fitness levels are right up and he has been running for a while. He just needs some game time now.”