David Artell says that Billy Sass-Davies showed a real maturity with his performance up against man-mountain John Akinde on Saturday. The Wales Under-21 defender returned from International duty with his country to produce a really assured display against one of the division’s best target men.

Sass-Davies formed a very young Alex back line against the Gills that also included Academy graduates, Zac Williams, Rio Adebisi and Luke Offord.

The Crewe Alexandra boss said of the towering Welshman: “It would be amiss not to mention the performance of Billy Sass-Davies. I thought all of them were magnificent but Billy was terrific up against big John Akinde. He had him exactly where he wanted him.

“It was a really mature performance from him against one of the most renowned strikers in the division. He didn’t give him a kick and the back three handled their forwards really well. They all showed great maturity and Gillingham didn’t have a chance in open play that I can remember.

“We had a back three with an average age of 20 and they showed maturity beyond their years.”