David Artell says he has not been surprised that loan signing, Stephen Walker, has hit the ground running since coming in from Middlesbrough during the January transfer window.

Walker scored his first senior goal for the club in the 2-0 win over Macclesfield at the weekend with Artell describing his performance as ‘his best for Crewe so far.’

The Alex boss believes that the youngsters’ work ethic and solid grounding gives him a great chance of having a superb career.

David told the club’s official website: “Stephen is an honest lad and a good lad. He has been brought up properly and you can see that he has a strong family unit behind him.

“Stephen lives and breathes football and if you do that then you have a great chance. His abilities will take him as far as it can because it certainly won’t be attitude or work ethic letting him down.

“That has been reflected in his performances of late. I thought it was his best performance for us against Macclesfield. He knows that we have brought him in to score and create goals.

“He has played for England Under-19s and Middlesbrough so we knew he was a good player. “