CREWE Alexandra are more than capable of challenging for an immediate return to League One via the play-offs, boss Steve Davis says.

After finishing bottom of English football’s third tier last season, The Alex have readjusted to life back in League Two reasonably well.

They sit 12th in the table but are just two points behind seventh-placed Wycombe, who occupy the final play-off position.

Davis has challenged his players to have greater belief in themselves as they build towards extending their season, starting with Saturday’s home clash with Crawley Town, kick off 3pm.

“I believe that this group of players is good enough to get into the play-offs,” he told crewealex.net.

“I said that to them at the start before we played a game. I see them every day, I see what they’re capable of every day.

“I think now and again some of them lack a little bit of belief in themselves and each other.

“On the whole, I think what we’ve got is a squad that are good enough to be in the play-offs. With consistency we can achieve that together.”

Full-back Zoumana Bakayogo could return to the side for Saturday’s game at Gresty Road as he has recovered from a hamstring problem.

However, Davis rates the Frenchman’s chances of featuring as “50/50” but says defender George Ray and midfielder Billy Bingham are likely to return.

“The only slight doubt at 50/50 will be Zoumana because he hasn’t trained yet and he’s been out three-and-a-half weeks, which is quite a long time,” he said.

“Even though he’s a fit lad he’s not quite at top speed. It would be a risk to throw him in at this point, but we’ll see if he improves enough to train back end of the week and make a judgement then.

“Ideally, he’d need another week to recover, but we desperately need him back.

“He’s been solid in there for us and I think we need him back in the team if we can get him back in.”

Due to their early exit from the FA Cup, The Alex had a free weekend and Davis has used the time to have talks with midfielder Danny Hollands about extending his stay at the club.

The 31-year-old, who can list Bournemouth and Portsmouth among his former clubs, is out of contract in the New Year but Davis describes their discussions as “positive” but admits Hollands’ family situation may count against the club.

“Talks are on-going with Danny. Having this break has given us a chance to do that and I am sure we will chat again,” he said.

“We have spoken at length and it has been positive.

“Danny has been away from his family because they are situated down south and that has to be a factor in his decision.”

“He has got triplets and it is not easy for him. The decision will be down to him.”