WREXHAM’S two games in hand over the majority of their Blue Square Premier rivals seem unlikely to be played until well into next year.

And if the Dragons carry their current league form into the Setanta Shield and FA Trophy competitions, it could be March or April before the fixture backlog is cleared.

It’s the price a successful Wrexham would have to pay for manager Dean Saunders fulfilling his second job duties with John Toshack’s Wales – the postponement of home league games against Histon and Forest Green Rovers coinciding with international matches against Germany last month and Denmark last night.

Racecourse secretary Geraint Parry, whose job it is to agree outstanding match dates with the opposition, pointed out the task was also complicated by the continued involvement of some Conference sides in the FA Cup.

“November has already been ruled out and there is just one free midweek date in December, although that is reserved for FA Trophy replays should they be necessary,” he said yesterday. “If we and either Histon or Forest Green fall at the first hurdle, the league game could be played then if both clubs agree.

“Then the second round of the Trophy is on January 10 and we also have to allow for a possible third round Setanta Shield match in the same month and a further two rounds in February, which is also complicated by internationals.

“Wales have a friendly pencilled in for February 13 and England C’s International Trophy match the following midweek rules out another potential date, so we are looking at March at the earliest, I think.”

Setanta’s decision to televise two Wrexham matches has added Thursday night fixtures at the end of January and the first week of February and Parry admitted that his greatest worry was that a harsh winter could add further complications to the league schedule.

“If we have decent runs in both the Trophy and the Setanta Shield, we could face some real problems towards the end of the season and that is without losing any games to the weather,” he added.

“It was the same for Aldershot last year, whose success meant that they played virtually every midweek from January until the end of the season and on one occasion had two midweek games.

“That schedule probably had something to do with them losing a few league games in the latter stages.”

Racecourse boss Saunders is due back from Denmark this morning and will conduct training at Colliers Park this afternoon after giving his players a rare day off yesterday. Assistant Terry Darracott, who has been holding the reins in his absence, is confident that brothers Mike and Marc Williams will be available for the weekend trip to Kidderminster after they pulled out of the Wales semi-professional under-21 squad this week due to minor injuries.

Wes Baynes, who sat out training on Tuesday because of a slight stomach strain, is also expected to train this afternoon.

However, Silvio Spann, who dislocated his shoulder during last weekend’s match at Weymouth, could be missing for a few weeks.