DAVE Artell hopes a growing link with Championship outfit Middlesbrough can pay dividends for Crewe.

England youth international defender Nathan Wood joined fellow Boro youngster Stephen Walker in the Alex ranks before the transfer window closed with both players on board on loan deals for the rest of the season.

Bringing in other club's youngsters is a selective process for Crewe whose own Academy starlets are gracing a side pushing for a top-six finish in League One.

But Wood, 18, who has broken into Boro's first team from academy football, has been an impressive performer alongside Omar Beckles in his three starts so far, while Walker, 20, is looking to emulate his loan stint at Gresty Road last season when he offered a lively threat in six outings.

Crewe have forged a strong relationship with Boro Academy Ambassador Neil Maddison and Artell said: "We get on well with them and they are straight talking people. We are honest with them as we don't bring anyone in to make up the numbers.

"Nathan has done well in the last couple of games, while we need to get more out of Stephen.

"We'll feed that back to Middlesbrough, but they don't put us under any pressure to play anyone.

"We know that Stephen and Nathan are good players."

Wood should face an intriguing tussle with highly-rated young Everton striker Ellis Simms, when Crewe face Blackpool where former Alex Academy coach Neil Critchley has been overseeing an impressive run of form.

The Tangerines have won five of their last six games and are only a point behind Crewe in 13th place ahead of the Bloomfield Road fixture (K.O 7pm).

"Neil isn't afraid of bringing in young players even though he did put 30-year-old Gary Madine in up front to try and bully Luke Offord earlier in the season," recalled Artell, who himself has found it well worth making the most of the experience of a veteran when switching to a 4-4-2 formation in games against Accrington, and Saturday's agonising 2-2 draw with Sunderland.

Chris Porter, who turned 37 before Christmas, has been drafted in up top to help Mikael Mandron, scoring in both games to keep Crewe's play-off hopes alive.

Artell added: "If you need someone in the six-yard box then Chris is your man. He does his business there and we've got to get the ball to him in those areas.

"We did a lot of work on [4-4-2] in pre-season, but never really used as it would have been difficult to prepare for it with all the midweek games before Christmas.

"There's positives and negatives with any formation and it's down to the players, who have done particularly well with it - but we've got to make sure that however we play that they are effective in each system."

Donervon Daniels has eased his way into the Crewe back four after a four-month injury lay-off and is determined to continue his progress against one of his former clubs. The defender has clocked up two spells, one on loan, with Blackpool.

"It was highly frustrating, although I have been there before as far as being knocked back by injuries goes," said Daniels recalling the significant hamstring tear he suffered in the home clash against Wigan last October.

"But everyone has been warm and welcoming here which has helped me get back onto the pitch.

"There was an air of frustration on Saturday (v Sunderland) after being 2-0 up. It felt like a loss drawing the game, but we've got to take the positives as we are building something here..

"We are building a good run and finding consistency at the right time."