JON Guthrie aims to make his mark at Crewe Alexandra next season after signing a new deal at Gresty Road.

The 20-year-old defender’s contract was due to expire at the end of the season but Guthrie, from Milton Lilbourne, put pen to paper on a new one-year deal this week, continuing his fairytale spell with the League One side.

Guthrie, who has missed the final few months of the season after undergoing a hernia operation, made a dream switch from Sydenhams League Pewsey Vale to the Railwaymen in February 2012 and will push for a regular first-team spot after the summer break.

“I found out on the Friday before our last game (against Walsall),’’ said Guthrie, who made his first start against Bournemouth in January.

“We had to go in for one-on-one meetings with the manager (Steve Davis) and it was horrible to be honest.

“It was nerve-wracking because the meeting would decide your future and I was unsure what was going to happen because I’d missed two-and-a-half months through injury but, luckily, they offered me another year.

“I was told that they didn’t want me to just be playing for the U21s next year and that it was time for me to try and get more games with the first team. So that’s exactly what I’m going to try and do next season and I’m looking forward to pushing on.”

Despite his late-season injury woes, Guthrie was included in the 20-man squad for Crewe’s triumphant Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final win over Southend last month at Wembley.

Guthrie, a former supermarket worker and the brother of Chippenham Town winger James, said: “It was amazing to be involved in that and to get the chance to walk around Wembley before the game.

“We trained at Arsenal for a few days before the final, which I wasn’t too happy about because I’m a Tottenham fan, and I got to get my hands on the trophy.

“It’s mad when you think that I was playing for Pewsey a couple of years ago.”

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