WREXHAM manager Denis Smith yesterday condemned Boston United striker Drewe Broughton for the reckless challenge on Dragons defender Steve Evans, who was sent off for retaliation during Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at the Smartstaff Stadium.

The Dragons boss spoke out after watching the match video several times and claimed Broughton – who is on loan at Boston from Chester City – should also have been dismissed by referee Dean Whitestone.

Evans, who had previously been sent off against Chester in August after being cautioned twice, now faces a four-match ban that will rule him out of the Christmas programme.

Smith said: “I am losing a player for four games because their lad might have broken Steve’s leg and that’s extremely frustrating.

“And the reaction of their lad has made it worse because one moment he is sitting there and the next he’s collapsed in a heap.”

To compound Smith’s annoyance, he claimed the television cameras clearly showed that United’s first two goals should have been disallowed for offside.

“I’m not trying to say we played well, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” he added.

“Last week had been going pretty well until Saturday, but that’s football for you.”

Wrexham’s woes began even before the kick-off when midfielder Mark Jones was ruled out by a recurrence of an injury to his right knee.

Explaining his decision to use Levi Mackin as a replacement instead of winger Matty Done, the Racecourse boss said: “Matty has not played or trained for a couple of weeks because of an ankle injury and, with Josh Johnson on the other side, it might have been too much of a luxury to go with two wide men.”

And there were fresh injury concerns yesterday with Neil Roberts, Juan Ugarte, Lee Roche and Danny Williams all receiving treatment.

Striker Lee McEvilly, who was ill at the weekend, is due back in this morning, but Wrexham might call off a friendly match arranged for tomorrow.

“We have been trying to get a game for ages and agreed to play Macclesfield reserves, primarily to get some match practice for Neil, Juan and Lee,” said Smith. “But I don’t know at the moment if we’ll have enough players to put a team out.”

Tickets for Wrexham’s FA Cup third-round tie at Derby County on January 6 will go on sale after Saturday’s home match against Walsall.

The club have 2,700 tickets priced at £18 (adult); £10 (seniors) and £5 (juniors). Postal applications are being taken.