23 December 2004
Denis Smith will be looking for Wrexham to convert possession into goals at Bradford |
WREXHAM boss Denis Smith has urged his Dragons
to turn possession into goals ahead of the Boxing Day trip to Bradford City.
That was his message after seeing his side enjoy long passages of the play in
last Saturday's 5-1 turnover by Hartlepool United.
Yet a lack of a killer touch, coupled with the Dragons' worst defensive display
of the season, meant the visitors came away with an emphatic victory, despite
having just seven shots on target.
Smith said: 'They've got bodies behind the ball, waited for us all to fall over
or to give them the ball or commit too many people forward and get caught on the
break. If you go on possession and everything else we won the game but that's
not what counts.
'It was a very hard game to analyse because you can't say the lads were not
trying. They tried to pass the ball and they worked hard but they were naive in
their defending.
'It's a strange result if you look at the way the game progressed. On the first
two occasions they got into our half in the first period they scored and the
first time they were in our box in the second they scored again.'
Sunday's match at Bradford starts a run of four games in eight days for the
Reds, with Chesterfield next up at the Racecourse on Tuesday.
Wrexham have been given a financial boost by their Yorkshire Boxing Day
opponents, after they offered, that for every Dragons supporter over 600 who
enters their away section of the
Valley Parade ground, they will return the entrance money to the cash-strapped
club.
There is positive on-the-field news, too, with Smith poised to welcome back a
number of key players from injury.
Trinidadian international Carlos Edwards is on course to step up his comeback
early in the New Year after damaging his cruciate knee ligament in the summer,
while Dean Bennett, out for two months due to a hernia operation, should be fit
for the busy holiday schedule.
He should be joined by Matt Crowell (thigh), but one player who will not be
appearing is goalkeeper Matt Baker. The 25-year-old, signed on a one-year deal
from Hereford United in July, has joined League One rivals Milton Keynes Dons.
Baker had been deputising for the injured Andy Dibble, but since the veteran
stopper's return the one-time England semi-pro player has had to settle for a
place on the bench.
Smith, however, has stressed that the deal was not a consequence of the club
going into administration, rather that it gave the keeper a chance of first-team
football - something he was not guaranteed at the Racecourse.
Youth keeper Michael Jones will now provide back-up for Dibble.