Brian still upbeat after 10-man Reds' battling display

By RICHARD WILLIAMS

24 December 2007

BRIAN LITTLE remained positive despite seeing 10-man Wrexham lose their third successive match at Rotherham United on Saturday.

Wrexham were up against it when Matty Crowell was red carded after just 14 minutes but they turned in a battling display against their highflying hosts.

And Little – who had started with a 4-3-3 formation – believes he saw enough to suggest that second from bottom Wrexham can turn the corner and improve their lowly position in the table.

"There are lots of ways you win or lose matches. The fact we have lost 3-0 again makes it look a lot worse than it probably was," said Little today.

"We will keep working. I think we are bordering on getting something, but we really need to turn that corner.

"There is something there, yet when we make decisions like the tackle, then we are throwing everything away.

"We are not far off and I do believe that. If I didn't then I would say so. I am disappointed, I genuinely think the set-up would have given us a chance. They are a good side but with 11 men we could have given them a really good game.

"Whether people believe that is another story. They will only believe it if and when we achieve it so I have got a lot of people to convince in a short period of time."

Little could not fault the commitment of his players and admitted it was always going to be tough against Mark Robins' side after Wrexham were reduced to 10 men with 75 minutes still remaining.

"We are struggling to win games with 11 men so to knock it down to 10 against a team as strong as them you have got a problem," said Little. "But I thought we battled very gallantly.

"We had a few scrambles but I thought we worked our socks off. I thought the lads were really up for the game.

"It is disappointing. Does 3-0 flatter them? I'm not really sure. But 10 men against sides like this meant we were under pressure for the remainder of the game. Ultimately, it told on us.

"I don't think the spirit or the set-up was wrong, the game was lost based on a player being sent off. Going down to 10 men just made it a step too far for us."

Little, who changed the formation at half-time having seen Wrexham concede just five minutes before the break, said he had tried to be positive all afternoon.

"First 15 minutes we matched them," added Little. "We came here to get at them with three forwards and three midfield players. But obviously that went out of the window with the sending off.

"It was important to get to half-time so we played 4-4-1. The goal a few minutes before half-time made it difficult.

"We decided again at half-time to try and get at them, to play two up front, so we have been positive the whole game.

"The fact we tried to play aggressive in the second half was always going to give them a chance or two. We were gambling, but again you can't fault anybody's effort or commitment."