WREXHAM supporters have been assured their players will do everything they can to haul the Dragons out of the relegation zone.

The Football League's decision to dock the club 10 points after it went into administration last Friday has dragged Wrexham from the fringe of the playoffs into a League One relegation battle.

Yet any thoughts the off-the-field turmoil would have a long-term effect on the players has been dismissed out-of-hand by assistant boss Kevin Russell.

Denis Smith's number two told the Mail he reckons the team has enough to move away from the lowly position that's been forced upon them.

He said: 'The lads have been very impressive throughout everything that has gone on.

'There's a lot of football still to be played and we cannot just concentrate on the two games we've got coming up.

'There's 27 games left and it's where we end up in May what's important.

'Everyone is positive. We've got to look to the future, and hope that someone comes in and buys the club and gets us out of administration.

'We definitely feel we can stay in this division. We're going well in the LDV Vans and we'll be stronger when some of our players come back.'

Brian Carey, Jim Whitley, Carlos Edwards and Danny Williams are making slow progress, but veteran goalkeeper Andy Dibble is pushing for a place, while Alex Smith and Dean Bennett are close to returning.

However, Craig Morgan's hamstring strain in Friday's FA Cup second round defeat to Scunthorpe United means the Dragons are down to the bare bones for the league games against Stockport County and Milton Keynes Dons.

As the Mail was going to press, boss Smith had 16 players available for Tuesday's home clash with bottom-of-the-table County, although Russell hopes the injury situation will improve before Saturday's trip to the struggling Dons.

The matches follow the loss at League Two leaders Scunthorpe, of which Russell said: 'I thought the overall performance was OK but we didn't have the cutting edge, and Scunthorpe did, so all credit to them.

'It was our third game in a week so it was tough on lads like Scott Green who had played twice in a few days.'

That defeat came three days after Wrexham's LDV Vans Trophy quarter-final victory at rivals Chester City, where Juan Ugarte's goal was enough to earn the Dragons a Northern Section last-four clash with Conference outfit Hereford United.

* Meanwhile, captain Darren Ferguson is suspended for Saturday's game after picking up his fifthbooking of the season at Scunthorpe.