Davis backs loan duo to shine

Steve Davis is convinced loan duo Uche Ikpeazu and Nicky Ajose can fire Crewe to safety after their 1-1 draw with Doncaster.

Watford teenager Ikpeazu was a real force against Doncaster and put the hosts ahead with a first-half finish, only for the Railwaymen, who remain bottom of the table, to be pegged back by an equaliser from James Coppinger 10 minutes from time. After the 1-1 draw, Davis said: "There was an instant partnership there between Uche and Nicky in training and there is real promise there. "They haven't had a lot of football this season so we've got two weeks to work with them now and get them fitter. "I think there is real hope for us as you could see that they both caused Doncaster a lot of problems. "We were excellent in the first half and if we'd have got a second goal we'd have gone on to win the game. Maybe a draw was a fair result in the end. "Their goal came from a set play, which we have got to do better with. We played some decent football at times and if we do that we should be okay this (this season)." Doncaster were on top early on and Crewe goalkeeper Ben Garratt pulled off an agile save to turn around Coppinger's sweeping drive. Nathan Tyson blew the chance to open the scoring from the resulting corner when he volleyed wildly over the crossbar despite being left unmarked at the far post. But big striker Ikpeazu, who joined the Railwaymen with Leeds attacker Ajose this week, cut an imposing figure and a timely tackle from Kyle Bennett was needed to prevent him getting in on goal. But he was not to be denied when he turned and fired home a shot - with the help of a deflection - past Sam Johnstone to give Crewe a 30th-minute lead. Ajose then wasted a gilt-edged chance after he seized on a mistake by Paul Keegan. However, just as it looked like the hosts would take all three points, Coppinger rammed home a close-range finish. Doncaster manager Paul Dickov said: "We started really well and the keeper has pulled off a fantastic save from James Coppinger. If we'd scored in that period we'd have won comfortably. "But give Crewe credit as their front two were a handful and the boy from Watford held the ball up well and caused us a few problems. "In the second half there was only one team in it and we created numerous chances and we showed character to come back after going a goal down. We changed to 4-4-2 at half-time to get a bit of width. "We're delighted to have got a point and frustrated we've not got all three because we deserved it. Possibly six weeks ago we'd have lost that 2-0, but we showed a great deal of discipline at the back."