Crewe Alexandra must stand up and be counted at Gillingham tomorrow (Tuesday, 7.45pm), despite being without a number of key players.

That’s according to Lee Bell, who says the 11 players he sends onto the pitch will be capable of getting as result at Priestfield Stadium.

Crewe will be without three players on international duty - James Beadle, Connor O’Riordan, and Lachlan Brook.

Rod McDonald, who is now free from suspension, has picked up an injury in training, while fellow defender Sean Robertson is rated at 50/50 after being unwell.

And the likes of Ryan Finnigan, Tariq Uwakwe, Zac Williams, and Christopher Long, remain sidelined.

Bell said: “It is going to be a tough game with depleted numbers but I won’t be using that as an excuse – we have to go there and stand up and be counted.

“We have to concentrate on what we have to improve on, and how we are going to hurt them, as well as how stop them. 

“Gillingham recruited well in January - the manager has been backed to bring in the players he wants.

“They are very well drilled; they all know their roles. They are probably as good as you’ll see in terms of set-up without the football, and their season would have looked different if they’d had the players they’ve got now, at the start of the season.”

While Crewe’s game with Bradford, originally scheduled for this weekend, has been postponed due to three players being called up for international duty, that wasn’t possible for the Gillingham game.

That’s because the game had already been rearranged once.

Bell added: “This came couldn’t be rescheduled because it has already been rescheduled once, into an international break. If you sign good players, you run the risk of them being called up, so we have to get on with it. We have to focus on ourselves."