MAX Clayton has issued a teenage warning which could force Steve Davis to step up the young gun's first-team involvement.

The 17-year-old came off the bench to break the stalemate and set Crewe on their way to an unlikely win over Accrington Stanley last night.

Goalmouth action had been at a premium until Clayton's strike, which spurred fellow teen Nick Powell to greater heights.

Powell finished in style and set up Luke Murphy for a last-minute second as Crewe ran out 2-0 winners.

Davis has been inclined, as Dario Gradi was previously, to gradually acclimatise England youth international Clayton, who netted for the third time this season, into senior football by using him mainly as an impact substitute.

But with Shaun Miller struggling to rediscover his form, the Alex boss is now considering an earlier call to action for the Crewe-born youngster.

"Maybe I've not given Max long enough to show what he can do," pondered Davis.

"He's developing into a decent player, but he's still very young and we do have to bide our time with him.

"I gave him a good half an hour tonight to get us going. He's always asking me if he can have longer on the pitch. And he did really well and popped up with a goal."

Goalmouth excitement was limited in a contest in which the earlier talking points had been referee Rob Madley's failure to punish Luke Joyce's late challenge on Ashley Westwood, booking the Crewe man instead for dissent.

He also ignored penalty shouts at both ends, with Toto Nsiala's handball looking the more nailed on for punishment from the under-fire official.

"I don't think the referee did very well," noted Davis, who was particularly critical of Madley's decision to book Powell for diving in the first half.

"The result for me was more important than the performance," added the Crewe boss.

"Although we didn't play particularly well we kept going and ground out a win which is what we need to do.

"We couldn't get any fluency in our play and the ball was in the air quite a lot. But we changed our shape three times to try to get a winning formula.

"The changes worked for us and both Max and Danny Shelley came on and did well for us."