Injuries ease as Denis waits on Dennis

13 October 2005

By RICHARD WILLIAMS

DENNIS LAWRENCE'S pending arrival back from Trinidad and Tobago could be Reds' manager Denis Smith's major headache this weekend.

Wrexham's giant centre-half represents Trinidad tonight in a World Cup qualifier at home to Mexico that his country need to win to have got a chance of reaching the finals in Germany next year.

The last time Lawrence was away on international duty, a fire on one of his flights caused delays which forced him to miss Wrexham's match against Cheltenham, on September 10.

And with Wrexham's injury situation showing vast improvement going into Saturday's League Two encounter against Torquay United at The Racecourse, waiting on Lawrence's return seems to be Smith's major worry.

"Dennis is back on Friday lunchtime at the earliest, and we'll have to assess the situation then, depending when he does eventually return," Smith said today. "That's when Dennis is generally back from international games and that's not ideal - but there isn't much we can do if there is a fire aboard the plane like last time which meant he was delayed.

"He has become an automatic choice to a certain extent and you only have to look at his record, Dennis never normally misses games or training."

Defenders Paul Warhurst (ankle), Andy Holt (groin and calf), Dave Bayliss (ankle) and Paul Linwood (neck), together with goalkeeper Michael Ingham (groin strain) who is in the Northern Ireland squad to face Austria tonight, should all be available to boost Smith's numbers for the visit of the Gulls.

And Lee Roche (hernia) is due back in full training tomorrow while Matty Crowell, yet to play this season, begins his comeback from a knee injury with a run-out for the reserves against Rochdale tonight at Buckley's Globe Way.

Lee McEvilly, Levi Mackin and Michael Jones also play and Smith recognises the importance of the match: "It's all about building fitness levels up now, and this is what we use reserve games for," Smith added.

"Matty is beginning pre-season again and has been running up the hills this week. But he is back from the cartilage injury now and needs games.

"It's the same for Lee. He has been working hard on his fitness levels and is getting near to where he needs to be to play at this level. Levi also needs games and he has been unlucky in the first team because he would play Mark Jones' role but his form speaks for itself - I am pleased to have two good young players in that position."

Jones played in Wales under 21s 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan yesterday while Simon Spender was a substitute.