STEVE Davis says there is still plenty of reason to be fearful despite his Crewe Alexandra side coming up against a weakened Swindon Town this weekend.

Town could be without as many as eight first-team players for the trip to Gresty Road, leaving manager Mark Cooper with a threadbare squad to pick from.

Jonathan Obika, Jermaine Hylton, Kevin Stewart and Nathan Thompson look set to miss the match because of injury, while Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill has missed the last two games through illness.

Add in international call-ups for Yaser Kasim, Jordan Williams and new signing Jordan Stewart, and Cooper is down to the bare bones.

However, Crewe are facing similar issues in their camp and Davis reckons Town still have enough firepower at their disposal to cause his side plenty of problems this weekend.

The Alex have yet to taste victory so far this term and Davis knows if they are to put that right they will have to do so without seeing much of the ball.

Davis told the Stoke Sentinel: “We’re missing a couple, which we would have liked available, and they’re missing a couple too.

“We have got a decent enough squad, though, and I’m sure they will feel the same and bring in players, who they feel can replace the ones that are away.

“I don’t know when a good time is to play Swindon because they’re a very good footballing team, always good in possession, so hopefully it can be an exciting game.

“They play a certain way, they’ve lost one or two players who were important to them but replaced them with some good ones as well.

“They have a philosophy of playing a possession-based game, I think they have dominated possession in every game they’ve played up to now without winning them all.

“But win or lose that’s how they play, so we expect a footballing game.”