David Artell believes that defender Luke Offord can grow into a future captain of the club after once again handing the 22-year-old the armband for the visit of Oxford on Tuesday evening. Offord has previously captained the club and the extra responsibility saw the Academy graduate produced another of his consistent performances in the Crewe backline.
The Alex lost the game 1-0 thanks to Oxford’s scrambled goal following a short free-kick into a crowded box.
Artell told the club’s official website: “I thought Luke produced a real mature performance on Tuesday. He and Connor (O’Riordan) were outstanding for us against the highest scorers in the league.
“Luke has had the captaincy before. He is not particularly quiet but not loud either. He leads by action, much in the same way Perry (Ng) did. I think as a centre-half you have got to be vocal in your game to help and organise and we are trying to improve that in Luke.
“He is great lad and always committed and we are just trying to get him out of his shell a bit.”