WREXHAM manager Brian Carey was not too disappointed by the postponement of last night’s match at Shrewsbury Town, revealing that his defensive options would have been stretched to the limit had the game gone ahead.

The Gay Meadow pitch was ruled unplayable by a local referee following a mid-morning inspection and gave the Dragons boss enough time to arrange a training session for his squad yesterday afternoon.

Carey’s preparations for the derby had been hindered by the suspension of centre-back Steve Evans and a back injury to replacement Danny Williams, but a third defender Shaun Pejic was also struggling for fitness after picking up a few bumps and bruises at Barnet last Saturday.

“Shaun was a definite doubt had the match gone ahead this evening,” said Carey. “And if he had played there would have been a question mark over his getting through the full 90 minutes.

“Now we have a couple more days to get him right before we play Bury on Friday evening and there should be also an improvement as far as Danny is concerned.

“So it’s not all bad news for us, and we have been spared the prospect of playing three big matches in the space of six days, which really is asking too much.

“In some respects the postponement is welcome at a time when we need everything to go in our favour, but we’ve missed out on the chance to build some more momentum following the weekend victory and it would have been a opportunity to improve our confidence.”

The Racecourse boss welcomed the news that a cut-price ticket offer for Friday’s home clash with Bury is proving popular with the fans and added: “It promises to be a big night for us and I hope the atmosphere is similar to that we experienced in the last two home games against Chester and Shrewsbury.

“Bury are having a bit of a bad run at the moment but they are above us in the league table and they are one of the sides we are looking to catch, so we want everyone backing the cause.”

Re-arrangements for last night’s game have yet to be confirmed, but April 24 looks to be the likely date after the police immediately ruled out next Tuesday as an alternative.

Wrexham are anticipating a postponement of the trip to Bristol Rovers on March 24 – a European Championship weekend – with at least three players on duty for Wales and Northern Ireland and an alternative date of April 17 has already been pencilled in.

Carey is expected to name a fairly strong reserve team for tonight’s Pontins League game at Bury, which provides an opportunity for several players to get some match practice.

But striker Juan Ugarte, who has resumed light training after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, is not expected to be involved and the Racecourse boss is anxious to avoid any new injury problems.

“A few of the lads on the fringe of the senior squad could do with a game, but we don’t want to give ourselves any unwanted problems when it comes to league matches,” he said.