Paul Cook keeps team news close to his chest for Crewe Alexandra trip

On Tuesday night at Derby County, Devan Tanton (thigh) went off at half-time, while Tom Naylor (ankle) was forced off in the second-half. Liam Mandeville (ankle) was not in the squad and Ryan Colclough (calf) was an unused sub.

Those fresh concerns come after medium to long-term injuries for Ash Palmer (knee), Ryheem Sheckleford (hamstring) and Paddy Madden (calf).

When asked about the squad news for the visit to Gresty Road, Cook replied: “We won’t give too much away. We travel across to Crewe tomorrow and we are really looking forward to a good game. I watched Crewe play at Barrow last week and they were, in my opinion, the better team on the day, albeit they lost 1-0. They then went to Rotherham and come off the wrong end of a 2-1 similar to ourselves.

"They have got some really good players, a clear identity and a good style of play, very much the traditional Crewe way, and they can hurt us tomorrow. Without a shadow of a doubt Crewe can hurt us but we will do our best to hurt them.”

Crewe, led by Lee Bell, lost in the play-off final to Crawley Town last season after a remarkable semi-final comeback win against Doncaster Rovers where they trailed 2-0 after the first leg.

Cook continued: “I think they have done amazingly well as a club, I think it is Lee’s first job. I remember his positvity after they lost the first leg against Doncaster, I did the game for Sky, and I actually commented after the game how the manager had gone in that dressing room and the first words were ‘this tie is not over’ and it wasn’t so great credit to Lee.”

The Railway men started with a 1-0 defeat to Barrow before losing 2-1 to Rotherham United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

"Crewe will be expected this year to have a good season, they will certainly play good football along the way and they will certainly win a lot of matches,” Cook added.

"For us now, it is a question of getting players in our building, integrating into our system, clear our injury list up, and hopefully be a force in this division that could be successful whatever that success looks like.”