James Collins, the Academy Manager currently taking the Under 18's team, has spoken out of his delight in the performances of his side recently.

The under 18's are currently 4 games unbeaten after finding it difficult to hold on to the lead earlier in the year, but now with just two games left of their season, Collins is hopeful they can keep that run going.

James told Crewe Alex World: "The boys are playing really well at the moment and are getting the results. We thought we were playing well January February time, and we were a bit unlucky not to get results conceding goals in the last few minutes in a few games and ended up drawing, but the last 4 games they have been professional and got what they deserved. Hopefully we can keep that run going until the end of the season, which will end a good year."

Last weekend the boys played for a 2-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday for their fourth consecutive win, and Collins was particularly pleased with how the team handled the weather conditions to keep their football playing well and proving that they are progressing well into professional youngsters.

He says: "I can't remember the last time we didn't play in windy conditions, but the boys cope with it really well. On Saturday they got the ball down and played good football, it was a really good professional performance, as good as they have looked in a while. They never looked in any real danger, they coped much better than the opponents.

"It was an all round decent performance, the front two were really lively Josh (Thompson) and AJ (Leitch-Smith), and Luke Murphy is really pushing forward and got a really good goal on Saturday as well. It was a good performance all round. Matt Lund, who is a first year Scholar, that was as good as I have seen him play in a few years, so we look like we are improving and pushing on."