Boss Joe Royle admitted he had to give Nicky Forster longer than he had planned to after the Blues had rarely threatened in the first hour of the game against Crewe. Forster, who had missed seven weeks after undergoing cartilage surgery, scored his second goal of the season to give the Blues an important 2-1 victory.

Royle said: "I never planned to let him have more than 20 minutes. He came on to score the vital goal and showed what we have been missing.

"I'd have loved to have given him a couple of reserve games because it's been like a brand new pre-season for him. It's great to have him back.

"Now we have a couple of weeks to give him reserve games and more fitness work.

"We were poor in the first half and knew the natives were restless. Sam Parkin was carrying a back injury, he reported it yesterday but wanted to play. He was not quite right.

"We thought of playing Richard Naylor up front from the start but at half-time we knew we had to make changes.

"Crewe passed the ball round us and through us. If we had lost we would have been looking anxiously below us in the table. Instead we are one point off the play-off places and that is fantastic considering all the problems we have had."

Forster was relieved to be back in action and on the scoresheet: "It felt like a debut to be honest because I only played a couple of games before having surgery.

"I was running on air and by the end I felt tired. It was great to come on and get the equaliser though.

"It's been frustrating, I had only really just joined the club and so the players and fans haven't really had a chance to get to know me.

"It's been difficult but I am so glad to be back and to get the winner was a great way to return to action.

"Now I hope to get a reserve team game or two under my belt and, hopefully, I'll be close to 100 per cent for the Reading game in two weeks."

Crewe boss Dario Gradi was left shaking by his side's second half capitulation: "It will probably be Monday before I calm down. We were one-up at the interval and it could have been more. Then I expected my defenders to defend with brains. Instead we gave away two silly goals.

"My players tried hard but maybe they just can't do it. Either we get better or we get better players or we are going to continue losing our players."

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