SHORT of festive cheer on the field of play, Wrexham's hopes for a brighter new year have been dealt a severe blow by club owner Alex Hamilton.

The Cheshire-based property developer says he has pulled the plug on takeover talks with Surrey businessman Andy Smith, alleging that contract deadlines had not been met.

"I don't anticipate any deal going through because it appears the prospective purchaser does not have the money," said Hamilton.. "I was expecting a 10% deposit by close of business on Friday but I've not been able to contact Mr Smith who appears to have gone to ground.

"There seems little point in either myself or my lawyers investing further time and money in this particular deal when he can't even find the deposit.

"Too many people talk a great deal but when it comes down to performing they don't deliver."

Hamilton's news will do little to improve manager Denis Smith's mood following Saturday's 5-1 Racecourse humiliation at the hands of Hartlepool United.

The Dragons boss insisted that his players were the authors of their own misfortune and claimed Pool were second-best in everything but the result.

"We were giving them the ball," he said.. "Did they put great moves together? Did they put great passes together? Did they get great crosses into the box? The answer is no.

"Have they actually played great football throughout the game? The answer is no.

"They've got bodies behind the ball, waited for us all to fall over or to give them the ball or commit too many people forward and get caught on the break. If you go on possession and everything else, we won the game but that's not what counts."

But Smith said he would not sacrifice his principles, despite the fact Wrexham have now conceded eight goals in their last two outings, failings he attributed more to the team as a whole than to individuals.

"That's twice now we've been the better team or played the more attractive football, but we've lost the game," he added.

"But I'm not going to start launching the ball forward because that's not my style. We're going through a difficult patch but we've got to get it right before next week.

"It was a very hard game to analyse because you can't say the lads were not trying. They tried to pass the ball and they worked hard but they were naive in their defending.

"It's a strange result if you look at the way the game progressed. On the first two occasions they got into our half in the first period they scored and the first time they were in our box in the second they scored again. "So that was frustrating. But it was some young people not concentrating and not doing their jobs."