STEVE Davis believes Crewe have demonstrated they can live with the best in League One after Tuesday’s thrilling 3-3 draw at Sheffield United.

The Alex boss hailed his side’s spirit after they fought back from two goals down in a crazy five minute spell either side of half-time.

A tough night loomed when former striker Shaun Miller netted after just three minutes and Harry Maguire (30) doubled advantage from a free header.

However Crewe were back in it three minutes before the break when Mark Ellis hooked the ball over Blades keeper George Long after Luke Murphy rattled the bar.

And Mathia Pogba (45) sent travelling fans wild, scoring from close range after Long fluffed Murphy’s free-kick.

Chuks Aneke tapped in Byron Moore’s cross two minutes into the restart for a shock lead but Nick Blackman quickly restored parity before both sides had chances to nick it.

“They never know when they are beaten and it was a tremendous achievement and effort to get it back to 2-2 and then go ahead,” said Davis.

“I thought we could go on and get another.

“We’re not a team that are going to sit back and try and protect what we have.

“I wanted them to come here, have a go and attack them and I thought we did that really well.

“The players kept going throughout, showed some real quality and it is a really good point for us against another of the top teams in this division.”

After bouncing back from last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at struggling Shrewsbury in some style, 14th placed Crewe entertain Crawley this weekend.

The Red Devils have seen their push for a second successive promotion stutter recently after five games without a win.

Davis says Crewe need to push on and improve on their defending.

“Saturday will be tough but we’ve proved what we can do,” he added.

“We could have done better with the goals we conceded on Tuesday because we knew they would be a threat from set-plays.

“For them to score from two corners was disappointing.

“We have to mark better there and we will work on that.”

Despite today's loan transfer deadline, Davis says he will give his current crop until January to prove themselves.

“I don’t think we’ll do anything,” he said.

“We’ve got to get what we can out of the players here.

“But they have to repay the faith because I am running out of patience with some.”