Boss confident that his injured players will be back in contention as a collective over the next few weeks.

David Artell says that the Crewe Alexandra squad could receive a major boost with the news that our injured players could all return to training inside the next couple of weeks.

The Alex have been hit with injuries but can expect Travis Johnson, Kayne Ramsay, J’Neil Bennett, Donervon Daniels and the longer-term Callum Ainley all set for a return around the same time. It is some positive news as Crewe aim to start winning games to keep us in touch at the bottom of League One.

The Crewe boss told us: “The injured players are all making progress. They are all some weeks off but they should all come back roughly at the same time.

“J’Neil has tweaked his hamstring so he is in that same bracket but they are mostly young lads and they are going to get these little niggles. What we have to do is make sure we nurse them back properly, so they don’t suffer any set-backs when they re-join full training again.

He added: “Gillingham have a lot of injuries too, so there is always someone worse off and all we can do is wait for them. In the meantime, we have to get better and improve and that is what the players, who are fit to train, have been doing this week I must say.”