Jones may get chance to stake his claim
12 August 2003
By Phil Blanche
DENIS
SMITH admits new Wrexham signing Chris Armstrong is still short of full
match fitness.
The former Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur striker made his
Racecourse return on Saturday in the opening day goalless draw with
Chesterfield.
Armstrong was unlucky not to mark his second Wrexham debut with an early
goal, when he hit the post, but the intense heat eventually took its toll
and he was replaced inside the final 20 minutes.
"Chris looked the player he can be," said Smith whose side are on Carling
Cup duty at Crewe Alexandra tonight.
"But he's not 100% and he's not there yet. It's a long season and if he
plays in the majority of these games, then that gives us a chance."
With that in mind, Armstrong could be rested for the first round tie at
Gresty Road with Lee Jones, who came off the bench against Chesterfield,
getting the opportunity to stake his claim for a starting place alongside
Chris Llewellyn.
"I thought it was a reasonably good performance against Chesterfield,"
said Smith, who may resist making other changes tonight.
"The game could have gone either way but Chesterfield sat in, made things
difficult and tried to catch us on the break."
Like Wrexham, Crewe were also promoted last season but did not enjoy such
a satisfactory Division One baptism with a 3-1 defeat at Wimbledon.
"There were some good moments from us but no-one played as good as they
can," Crewe boss Dario Gradi.
"We are something of a new-look side and this defeat has brought us back
down to earth a little.
"We had some terrific results in pre-season and thought it would continue
at Wimbledon.
"It hasn't but it's important that we develop the winning habit again.
"The Wrexham game will see where we are going and we go into it as
favourites.
"We always take cup competitions seriously and we will put out our best
team.
"We always want to progress as far as possible because it can be worth an
awful lot of money to us."
The tie pits Dave Brammer - on target for Crewe on Saturday - against his
old club while there should also be an intriguing midfield tussle between
Darren Ferguson and young Wales international David Vaughan.