CREWE FC's recent run of form came to an end as they suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat at Daten on Saturday.

To complete a disappointing weekend, the reserve team's fine recent run was also halted as they went down 2-0 to Pilkington's Reserves.

Despite the setbacks, manager Ian O'Reilly believes there are signs that the club can now plan to move on to the next level.

'It can be difficult because quite a few clubs in this league pay players, but we aren't in a position to do that.

'But we've shown that we can still compete at this level and I now consider us to be an established Mid Cheshire League Club. It is now all about whether we can go onto that next stage and push for a place in the North West Counties League, which is where we want to be.'