Luke Offord will have surgery tomorrow (Friday) to repair damage to his ankle ligaments.

The Crewe Alexandra skipper, who suffered the injury in the 0-0 draw with Harrogate recently, is now certain to miss the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Zac Williams – who is yet to feature this year due to an ankle injury - has returned to full training today (Thursday).

Christopher Long (thigh) is still weeks away from action, while Charlie Finney (calves) is stepping up his workload.

Manager Lee Bell said: “Luke will have an operation tomorrow morning which definitely rules him out for the rest of the season.

“As you’d expect with Luke, he’s being positive. He will still be key to us because he’s the captain. We will look after him and I’m sure he will want to help the players in any way he can. 

“I don’t have an exact timescale for Longy; he’ll be two or three weeks away. He’s being positive and has responded well to treatment. A fit Chris Long gets in any team in this league so let’s hope we can get him right.

“Zac rejoins the group today, which is positive. We just have to be careful with how we build him up.

“Charlie is building up strength. We won’t rush Charlie because he struggled with his calves for about 18 months until he got to the point he needed an operation. It’s a fairly unique problem he’s had, so we are mindful of the bigger picture with him.” 

Midfielders Jack Powell (knee) and Owen Lunt (back) remained sidelined for the foreseeable future.