BY TOBY ROBINSON

CREWE Alexandra are set to offer some of their younger players new deals next week.

With success comes the spotlight and the club's FA Academy Under 19 stars have certainly become a hot topic over recent months.

The national media has already begun to speculate on their future and in particular striker Dean Ashton seems to be a target of what appear to be inaccurate reports.

"We are in the process of offering contracts to one or two of our young players and hopefully we will have things sorted out next week," revealed Gradi.

"We expect to keep our young players. I've not spoken to anyone about Dean Ashton recently. That story is about 6 months or more old."

Back to reality the 17-year-old who only made his full debut against Cardiff two weeks ago is likely to remain in the first team squad for this Saturday's FA Cup Fourth Round clash with Stockport County.

Another topic of conversation of late has been the pitch after the Forest fixture fell victim to the frozen conditions.

"We trained on the pitch on the Friday morning and it seemed the same as it was against Cardiff," said Gradi.

"It did look worse on the Saturday. It was icy, David (Platt) didn't want to play and the referee wasn't keen.

"I was prepared to play on it but that was all - prepared."

The club brought in an expert to look at the surface on Monday and work estimated to cost £300,000 should take place in the summer but the possibility of undersoil heating has not been discussed.

"It looks like it will go ahead. I'm not sure if undersoil heating would be a good thing with the way it affects the surface but maybe we should find out more about it."

A practise match on Tuesday saw the Alex come out 3-0 winners over Carlisle with Tait, Little and Richard Walker on the scoresheet.

Dave Walton and Phil Charnock also figured in the match and the towering centre-half in particular should be in the squad to face County, on Saturday.

Andy Kilner's side have enjoyed a better run of form since that 2-1 victory at the Alexandra Stadium back in November and Gradi is expecting another tough physical battle.

"They have been playing a bit differently lately and changed to a similar shape and formation as us," he said. "They're a strong side."

In all honesty Crewe should have beaten Stockport but let the game slip away in that last league fixture

County have also lacked a consistant marksman this season but with the recent form of Hulse, Jack and Rivers starting to look the business, Crewe could and should blow away Stockport and progress into the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.