Luke Offord’s season may have ended because of a hamstring injury, but boss David Artell says that the experience of missing games this year will only make the defender more determined to come back stronger next season. The Academy graduate suffered his second hamstring injury of the season against Fleetwood Town and he won’t feature in our remaining three games.

The versatile defender, who has played at centre-back, in both full-back positions and in central midfield in the early part of his career has been limited to just 30 appearances in all competitions.

The 21-year-old burst onto the scene in the second half of last season, forming a successful partnership with the on-loan Michael Nottingham as Crewe won promotion back to League One.

An injury sustained against Bristol Rovers in January set him back this season but he successfully retuned in early April to feature another five games.

David Artell told the club’s official website: “It has been a bit of a stop/start season for Luke with the couple of injuries he has had, but we know what a good player he is and how important he is going to be for us in the future.

“He is still young and he knows that he has got to get fitter and avoid those injuries next season. He is coming along really nicely, like a few of them.

“I’m sure, he will have a far greater role to play and he will have learnt about himself this season because he is always desperate to play.”