Williams, Tabiner, Robbins and Woodthorpe become the latest Academy lads to mark their senior debuts.

David Artell took the opportunity to name four young debutants in his squad for last night’s 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy tie. Crewe topped Group C of the Northern Section thank to three wins and Artell mixed his side up for the visit of the Wolves youngsters.

He handed full debuts to defenders, Zac Williams and Nathan Woodthorpe and goalscoring midfielder Joe Robbins, as well as bringing on teenage midfielder, Joel Tabiner, with 20 minutes remaining.

The Alex boss told the club’s official website: “It is always good to see the younger lads making progress.

“Joe was fine and scored a good goal. Nathan Woodthorpe was excellent and he made an excellent block towards the end of the game. He made very few poor decisions on the night.

“Zac at 17 was outstanding and he has a bright future ahead of him and Joel came on for 20 minutes at the end, after playing 70 minutes for the Under-23s down at Coventry. He said he was a bit stiff, but he was fine when he went out on the pitch.

Artell added: “He got his 90 minutes all in and he did fine in and out of possession. Those two young ones have a big game of their own in the Youth Cup on Saturday and it is fantastic for all four of them to have now made their debuts at senior level.”