Crewe Alex: Bailey back to help bridge Crewe's midfield woes

by Gwyn Griffiths

JAMES Bailey could have finally put his long-term injury problems behind him after coming through a Crewe reserve team run-out at Birmingham City yesterday.

Bailey emerged unscathed from 90 minutes on the Premier League club's training ground to put himself in contention for a start in Friday's re-arranged League Two clash at Burton Albion.

The home-grown midfielder had struggled to overcome an abductor muscle problem, last featuring for Crewe against Morecambe on November 14.

In his absence, loanee Simon Walton and Ashley Westwood have cemented a partnership in the centre of the park.

But after Crewe went down to their fourth defeat in seven games at Rochdale last Saturday, manager Dario Gradi will be glad of Bailey's availability after being critical of his midfield at Spotland.

Macclesfield-based Bailey's stop-start campaign also saw him sidelined by an earlier hip muscle strain, but he has been undergoing specialist strengthening work to ensure he doesn't break down again.

Gradi has waited patiently for him to complete a second-string fixture before considering him again.

The Alex boss preferred to leave him out of the match-day 18 for Spotland, even though Bailey had completed a week's training.

Danny Shelley and rookie striker Ajay Leitch-Smith (penalty) were on the mark in a 4-2 defeat in the behind-closed-doors game against The Blues.

Flixton trialist Danny Gardner also featured and a decision on whether or not to offer the 19-year-old striker a deal is imminent.

Meanwhile, leading scorer Calvin Zola is undergoing treatment for the hamstring strain which forced him off in the weekend defeat. He is out of the Crewe's first visit to the Pirelli Stadium.