WREXHAM captain Neil Roberts has identified this afternoon’s visit to Boston United as the starting point for a five-match spell this month that will shape the remainder of the club’s League Two campaign.
The striker, recalled by manager Denis Smith following an eight-game absence through injury, comes into contention because team-mate Lee McEvilly is ruled out by illness and reckons the Dragons are not far away from rediscovering the form that kept the side unbeaten during the first few weeks of the season.
Confident of extending a three-match unbeaten run at the Staffsmart Stadium, Roberts said: “I’m delighted to be involved again, even though it’s probably due to the fact that Lee is not available.
“I’ve trained hard this week and I’ve felt very good and it’s good to be coming back at a time when the team seem to be doing well and conceding very few goals.
“We need to keep that going tomorrow and if we can pick up the three points it will set us up nicely for two big home games against Walsall and Darlington.
“Measuring ourselves against them will indicate whether we are right to believe we can challenge at the top end of the table.
“The way I look at it is that if we can go into Christmas on a good run of form that will set us up nicely for the New Year.
“We have a pretty settled side at the moment, particularly at the back, and their confidence is seeping through the team.
“All the lads know that if they are not playing well others are ready to step in to take their places, which was possibly not the case a few weeks ago when we had a lot of injury problems.
“I’ve no idea what the gaffer’s thoughts are, but we might try to strengthen the squad in January and we would hope to push on from there.
“It’s all ifs and buts of course but we believe that a decent run of results will see us quickly move into the top 10 and then it’s all to play for.
“Hopefully, we have already had our dip in form, while it hasn’t happened yet for others, and we are quietly confident we are good enough to make an impact and to be up there competing on equal terms with the likes of Walsall, Peterborough and MK Dons.”
Wrexham manager Denis Smith looks set to make one change from the starting line-up at Torquay United in midweek, with midfielder Darren Ferguson struggling against an illness similar to that which has laid McEvilly low and which affected Wales international Mark Jones at Plainmoor.
Matty Crowell is set to deputise for the missing Scot, while teenage winger Matty Done has recovered from an ankle injury and was included in the 18-strong squad that travelled to Lincolnshire yesterday afternoon.
The Dragons boss is looking to end the week on a high note following last weekend’s FA Cup win at Scunthorpe and a share of the points on Tuesday.
“I was hoping for two wins out of these three games, so we are one short going into tomorrow,” he said.
“But it might have been three points at Torquay had we not lost Mark Jones at half time. With the form he is in at the moment it was a shame we had to move Chris Llewellyn back into midfield, but the end result was that we were not beaten.
“We need to put together a sequence of unbeaten games and the longer the run goes the better we will be for it. The lads have had a good week, they are bubbly and bright and at last we are looking a threat going forward as well as being defensively solid.”
But Smith, who sent Joey Jones to watch Boston’s 3-2 defeat at Chester City in midweek, is expecting a tough battle this afternoon against opponents currently second from bottom of the table.
United manager Steve Evans this week extended loan spells for Ipswich defender Ian Miller and midfielder Jason Kennedy from Middlesbrough and will recall Drewe Broughton to a three-man attack after the striker was ruled out of the Deva Stadium clash.
“From what I’ve heard Boston were by far the better team in the first half on Tuesday,” added the Dragons boss.
“And from other reports I’ve had they have been playing well of late, with their loan signings all doing well for them.
“Despite that, though, we are going there in a positive frame of mind.”
