CREWE has long been known as a breeding ground for young footballing talent and it is at Gresty Road a handful of Wanderers’ graduates could get their first taste of senior football.

The Railwaymen developed a reputation as one of the league’s most prolific conveyor belts as they launched the careers of David Platt, Rob Jones, Danny Murphy, David Vaughan and Robbie Savage at the end of the last millennium.

Wanderers have fared well on that front in recent years too, and after their academy was ranked fourth out of 92 for productivity this summer, the latest generation of recruits are now ready to get their bow.

Phil Parkinson is ready to give some of his third-year scholars a chance to showcase their potential in the Carabao Cup first round.

Jack Earing, Harry Brockbank, Ryan White and Cole Lonsdale joined the senior team on their summer trip to Scotland in preparation for a competitive debut in Cheshire.

Parkinson is looking forward to seeing how they fare against proven professionals like Chris Porter and Chris Dagnall, who between them boast nearly 900 senior Football League appearances.

“If we don’t give these lads an opportunity, we’ll never see if they can do it at first team level,” he told The Bolton News. “We took the lads away in pre-season for this reason, really, to train in the company of the senior lads and to feel comfortable around them.

“We had a good look to see who deserves their chance and maybe the supporters on Wednesday night will see one or two of the youngsters get their big break.”

Wanderers’ injury problems have slimmed down Parkinson’s options considerably for the cup clash, and the EFL have refused to budge on him being allowed to play first year professionals like Alex Perry, Jeff King and Connor Hall without them counting instantly towards his quota of 23.

While his hands are tied somewhat, the Whites boss prefers to look at tonight’s game as an opportunity.

“Look at the last few years and someone had to take the plunge and give Josh Vela, Zach Clough and Rob Holding their debut,” he said.

“Two of those players have been sold on for a lot of money and another, Josh, was instrumental in our promotion campaign.

“Young players must look at them and go ‘wow, what an opportunity we’ve got’ and, OK, we talk about all the restrictions we’ve got but that has got to open the door to some of them too. The have to seize that opportunity.

“We’ve got players who need more minutes and we’ve got to thicken the squad with some of the youngsters.”