Another scoreless draw at the Racecourse as League One side Crewe Alexandra failed to breach a resolute Reds defence, with at least two cleared off the line and a late goalmouth scramble.

At the other end Tom Kearney was unlucky not to break the deadlock with a rasping shot which struck a post.

New signing Shaun Whalley came through his first action of the season and two trialists, Adam Smith and Christian Smith, were both given their chance to impress.

Brian Little was pleased with the commitment that the lads showed as we build towards the first competitive game against Stevenage next month.

"We had to throw ourselves in front of stuff at times today but that was good," he said after the match.

"The determination not to concede was good. The attitude was spot on and they are working to what we are trying to put out.

"I was pleased with the defensive side of things, although there were things which we might have done better on. We had a couple of little half chances and we hit the post.

"They were a good test for us, they moved the ball around well and were a good test for us.

"I am pleased with the attitude again, but we are getting closer and close, so now we have got a few days to decide what our next moves are.

"We've got plans but we have got to sit and say is this the way that we want to go?

"We'll sort that our in the next 24 or 48 hours, but I am looking to Saturday already.

"It will be a different type of game, and we may want to score a goal or two, so we'll see if we can do that.

"We have had three really good games here and they have been a test for us, but we have hung in there.

"We've had periods where the opposition have kept the ball, but also periods where we have given them a problem as well and we've had chances ourselves.

"We had four or five key players who were out of it tonight. so it was quite pleasing to still be competitive.

"We need to decide now whether we want to give the lads who have been injured a full game or not on Saturday.

"It's gone pretty much the way we would have liked it to have gone, although it could have gone better on occasions and we've got a couple of niggles which obviously will dictate what we will do on Saturday.

"Once you get near a game, the injured players are saying 'I'm not too bad today' because the adrenalin gets flowing and they want to get involved.

"How many fit players will dictate who plays but we'll look at it and see who needs to play for longer and who needs to play a little bit less."

With two new faces in the line-up this evening, the boss was happy with their contribution.

"The trialists did smashing." he said.

"Adam [Smith] played in a game at the weekend and was a little bit leggy today, while Christian [Smith] has come out of nowhere and done the 90 minutes.

"Adam is definitely here for the week, Christian has come in for the game tonight but we will have a chat with him before he goes home this evening and we'll take it from there.

"I think the most important thing is to find people who can go straight into the first team. We've got a decent squad at the moment, so we're looking for something more each time, but I thought that they both did fine."