WREXHAM manager Denis Smith reckons a second goal in three matches for Steve Thomas and another for fellow midfielder Wayne Phillips against Carmarthen Town on Tuesday night suggests the players are beginning to absorb his game plan for second division survival.
In recent games, the Dragons' boss has employed Phillips, Thomas and Darren Ferguson as a team in the centre of the field, with Michael Blackwood and Hector Sam patrolling the flanks and he believes it's a system which brings the best out of the players available.
"There are things to work on but at least the lads showed a good attitude and what we've been trying to do is to get more goals from midfield. This system seems to suit us better, we look more solid with three in the midfield," he said.
"I prefer a 4-4-2 system but this is the one which has given us performances.
"In the last three games we've looked quite good. Between Wayne Phillips and Steve Thomas we got two goals and if we can carry on doing that, it takes the pressure off the players further up the park."
Smith said he was more than satisfied to have overcome Tuesday's potential banana skin against the League of Wales side at Richmond Park, where Wrexham won 4-2 to book an FAW Premier Cup semi-final spot.
But the Dragons' boss admitted that his side can still make unforced errors. "We started quite brightly but gave a stupid first goal away," he said.
"If you can't deal with a cross like that, you'll have problems, and the keeper should have picked it up because it bounced in the six-yard box.
"We got ourselves back in it but I thought they worked harder than us in the first half and I felt we needed to up the pace and move the ball quicker.
"We did that after the break and all of a sudden they couldn't live with us. Our runs were better, the movement was good and 4-2 didn't really do us justice because I thought we should have done a bit better than we did."
Wrexham survived a late scare when Carmarthen's Ryan Nicholls got his side back to 3-2 with a contentious penalty, but substitute Carlos Edwards restored the two-goal advantage within three minutes. "It was a silly penalty to give away, if it was in the box, but we should have stopped the cross," said Smith.
