Disappointed Smith looks to LDV clash

By Mark Currie, Daily Post

02/12/02

WREXHAM may have gone through November with an unbeaten run of four league games but manager Denis Smith is promising to make them work even harder before their next outing on Tuesday week.

Although the Dragons are without a fixture next weekend due to their first round exit from the FA Cup, the Racecourse boss said he had no intention of giving anyone a rest ahead of the LDV Vans Trophy clash against third division rivals Carlisle United.

"Although the players don't know it yet they will have a pre-season and it will be a hard week," he said after Saturday's 0-0 draw with Hull City.

But he had no complaints about Wrexham's performance against Peter Taylor's side, one which matched their previous display at Bristol Rovers in everything but the final touch.

"It was a good entertaining game with everything but a goal," he said. "It needed a goal but I can't complain and I can't fault the lads. They did everything really and Hull had just one shot which Whitfield did well to save.

"We had enough chances to have won but I thought Andy Morrell and Lee Trundle did well. What they haven't done is put the chances away but I couldn't complain at their general play and everything they did.

It's a clean sheet again, which is pleasing, and I said before the game that a draw could be the result given how equal the teams were. But the last thing I expected was a 0-0 with the forward lines both teams have got."

The result on a day when the division's front-runners all picked up victories saw Wrexham drop to seventh place in the table but the Dragons boss hid his undoubted disappointment.

"It's two points dropped but I can't see what else we could have done other than score," he added. "I thought it was a good solid all-round team performance. There were times when you would have expected us to score and on other occasions we will. Some of the build-up play was super and as long as they keep getting there, that's the main thing.

"We expect perfection at times but we aren't going to get that - and that applies anywhere. The work rate was good, the team spirit was good, the movement was good - but what we lacked were goals.

"There was a great move but Andy (Morrell) slipped and that's the way it was. But earlier in the season this was a game we might have lost."

Wrexham finished the game with three strikers, Hector Sam and Lee Jones being introduced late on, but Smith said it would have been foolish to gamble earlier.

"We dominated the first half but they got a bit more into it in the second which is why I couldn't really risk going three up front. They were playing the one in behind the front and so it made it a bit difficult to use that option," he said.

Central defender Brian Carey limped off just after the interval with achilles tendon trouble but now has 10 days to recover before the Carlisle match, which Dan Bennett will miss because of international duty with Singapore.

And captain Darren Ferguson will sit out the third division game at Brunton Park in a fortnight after picking up his fifth caution of the season on Saturday.