By Mark Currie, Daily Post
23 November 2004
WREXHAM
directors have refused to bow to the club's well-publicised financial problems
by ensuring the preparations are as meticulous as possible before the Dragons
face Torquay United tonight.
Dave Bennett and Dave Griffiths, the only two members of the Wrexham board
following the resignation of ex-chairman Alex Hamilton last month, have
sanctioned another overnight trip to the south west of England in order to give
Smith and his players the best possible chance, following an abortive two-day
trip last month.
"The price we have been quoted by the hotel for an overnight stay is the same as
if we travelled on the day and booked some rooms for a few hours," said the
Dragons boss yesterday.
"It's the right and proper way to do things anyway and I believe our expenses on
this occasion will be subsidised to some extent by the Football League because
of the previous post-ponement."
And Smith is hoping for a change in the club's fortunes for this evening's clash
against Leroy Rosenior's side.
Three successive League One defeats in a five-match sequence that has yielded
just two points have seen the Dragons slip into the bottom half of the table.
And there is the prospect of losing 10 points if the club is placed into
administration next month.
Addressing his side's poor run of league results, Smith said he was not too
concerned given the quality of the opposition in recent encounters.
"I'm not complacent about the fact that we haven't won since Colchester United
in October but I was pleased with our performance against Bristol City on
Saturday," he added..
"We hit the woodwork on a couple of occasions and we went behind to a dodgy
penalty, all incidents which if they had gone the other way would have changed
the complexion of the game.
"But when things go against you, they tend to trample all over you.
"And I would defy any team in the country, with the possible exception of
Chelsea, to carry the burden of being without five members of their best
starting line-up over a sustained period of time and not see that reflected in
their results."
Since their 2-1 win at Colchester on October 19, Wrexham's only two successes
have come in cup competitions, but Smith said: "We played far better against
Bristol City than we did the previous weekend.
"We've had one really bad performance in the last month, which came at
Blackpool, and the players had a rollocking after that game."
Jim Whitley is likely to step up his training this week and could be working
with the first-team squad in the next few days but, otherwise, Smith has no
fresh options at his disposal.
Striker Chris Armstrong, hard-pressed to play three games a week because of his
persistent achilles problems, will have a fitness test today and the Racecourse
boss is hoping that Trinidad globe-trotters Dennis Lawrence and Hector Sam will
have recovered from their travels last week.
Spanish non-contract striker Juan Ugarte is on stand-by for his full debut, with
Smith admitting that the former Real Sociedad youngster has impressed: "He's
very lively and was very unlucky not to score when he came on on Saturday.
"I had a long chat with Kevin (Rus-sell) over the weekend and we've got a rough
idea what we are going to do."
Torquay, fresh from a 2-1 win at Port Vale on Saturday, have lost just once in
the last seven games and have few injury worries, with central defender Steve
Woods available again after a two-week lay-off through injury.
Manager Rosenior has the welcome dilemma of selecting two from four strikers,
with on- loan Leon
Constantine - three goals in three games - and leading scorer Jo Kuffour (six
goals so far), competing for places with Bayo Akinfenwa and Martin Grit-ton.
And former Wrexham goalkeeper Kevin Dearden is also likely to start, after
making his first appearance since August at Vale Park.