Crewe Alexandra Manager Dario Gradi has said that Max Clayton will benefit from making his first senior start for the Club in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win over Macclesfield Town.
The 17-year-old England youth international headed his first goal for the Alex in a 1-0 win on Wednesday night.
“It’s experience for him,” Gradi told BBC Radio Stoke.
“He’ll do better than that and he’ll be disappointed by how he’s played because he sets his standards higher than that but he hasn’t played very much at this level and he hasn’t started a game before now.”
“But he’s got that out of the way and he’ll be well pleased with the goal.”
“He took his goal very well but no better than we would expect because he’s a goalscorer.”
Scouts from over a dozen Premier League clubs watched a young Crewe side beat their Cheshire neighbours to earn a place in the last eight of the northern section of the competition.
Full-back Ollie Turton who finished his Apprenticeship in the summer joined Clayton in making his first start for the club.
While the Alex the line-up also included Caspar Hughes, Harry Davis, Matt Tootle, Luke Murphy, Daniel Shelley and Byron Moore.
Substitutes Ashley Westwood and Ajay Leitch-Smith continued the home-grown theme for the Railwaymen.
