CREWE Alex boss Dario Gradi has said he is pleased with the performance of on-loan Danny Murphy, despite only inspiring the side to one point from the last two games.

Murphy, who returned to a hero's welcome at Gresty Road to boost Crewe's flailing attack, hasn't scored or set up a goal since his arrival.

But Gradi said his time at Liverpool had improved his game.

"He has done as well as I expected him to do. He has been very responsible in his play, worked very hard and shown no petulance like he used to do," he said.

"He tries to get the ball in behind people and he hit Rodney with a great ball on Saturday which is an example to the rest of them.

"It's a big worry that he might try to do too much and see himself as a saviour, in a nice way. Other people may have thought he would perform differently but I would definitely say he has improved and matured since he was last here."

Despite his satisfaction with Murphy, Gradi admitted he was still on the lookout for a powerful striker to help drag his side from the foot of the table.

"I'm still looking for an extra bit of quality up front as we have been all season. Again we have a list of names but by the end of the week it has usually been eliminated," he said.

"We got to their box easily on Saturday but couldn't create a chance in the last third because the passes weren't good enough. Rodney had a few chances and we are relying on him at the moment. If he's not in full flight we don't score."

Crewe will be boosted for the trip to Bolton's Reebok Stadium on Saturday by the return of Seth Johnson, who missed the Stockport match through suspension.

"Seth will play on Saturday and I'm looking to change things around. I have a couple of alternatives including pushing Danny up front but I haven't decided yet," he said.

Another bonus for the club is that long-serving defender Steve Macauley has decided he doesn't want to leave the club after all.

It was announced last week that Macauley wanted to leave Crewe through frustration at not making the first team, but Gradi said he had changed his mind and wanted to go out on loan instead.

"We have only had one enquiry so far from a club in the league below. If he wants to go I would let him out on loan because he's not going to get into my first team at the moment," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.