David Artell praised the returning performance of Chris Porter last night. The veteran striker, 36, was thrust back into action due to the continued absence of the injured Mikael Mandron. It was his first start of the season.

Porter, who had previously made four substitute appearances, has not featured since picking up a thigh injury in the warm up against Gillingham early in the month.

The man, who has scored 34 league goals in just 76 starts for the Alex, completed 84 minutes of last night’s 1-0 defeat at Accrington before being replaced by Offrande Zanzala.

The former Sheffield United and Derby County has hardly had an opportunity to train since returning from injury and the Alex boss was full of praise for his contribution at the Wham Stadium.

Speaking after the narrow loss, Artell told crewealex.net: “Chris has hardly trained. He hasn’t had the opportunity to due to the fixtures and the players needing that rest between games.

“He did the best he could for us up there and no can fault his effort. He came through a fitness test and said he was ready and to get 80+ minutes out of him at that level and intensity was one of the few positives to come out of the game.

He added: “We were really pleased with Chris and he knows, like the rest of them, that we will need him this season.”