STOCKPORT County manager Chris Turner might claim to share Arsene Wenger's eyesight problems, but unlike the Arsenal boss he does not try to defend the indefensible.
The former goalkeeper, who succeeded Sammy McIlroy at Edgeley Park in December last year, refused to blame his side's poor showing at the Racecourse on the seventh-minute sending-off of his French defender Ludovic Dje, who elbowed the Dragons' Paul Linwood as they jockeyed for position from a throw-in on the halfway line.
The dismissal certainly tipped the odds in Wrexham's favour at the Race-ourse, but the County boss saw enough in his team's second-half performance to know they should have made more of the unequal contest than they did.
Answering his first post-match media question, Turner said: "I didn't see the incident - Arsene Wenger.."
He went on, though: "I'm told he should have been sent off and it makes a big difference to the game, but I won't hide behind that as an excuse for losing today.
"As a manager I look at myself every day and prepare these players in a manner and a fashion to go out on a Saturday and perform. Sometimes they have to look at themselves.
"When Ludo was sent off too many of them felt that was the end of the game plan and that we weren't going to get anything from the game. They went missing.
" And I think Wrexham's first goal was crucial because normally when we go down to 10 men we go 4-3-2 and try and stick in the game.
"But with the way Wrexham are set up they would have passed the ball around us and have more opportunities at goal than they did.
"I felt we had to stay at 0-0 as long as possible and try to get to half time. But that goal was vital because it took the pressure off Wrexham and gave them the time to wait for a second.
"With the second goal the game was over and I had worries of it going to five or six because we were that exposed at times. But when it went to 3-0 we had possibly the best two chances of the game except that we didn't convert them."
Long before that, the points were in the bag for the Dragons, thanks to a second goal of the season for striker Jon Walters and a brace from midfielder Mark Jones, who will be hoping at last to put his talents at the service of Wales later this week.
Jones, one of four Racecourse play-ers on international duty in the coming 10 days, has missed out on a host of under-21 caps due to injury but should join up with Brian Flynn's squad today in a confident frame of mind after clearly establishing himself as Wrexham's leading scorer to date.
County's early setback didn't do the home side too many favours, with several passes failing to hit their intended targets as the visitors adopted a siege mentality and kept plenty of men behind the ball.
Jones had a 12th-minute range-finder which he didn't catch cleanly enough to test goalkeeper Carl Ikeme. An expectant, almost impatient, crowd had to wait until midway through the opening period for the first goal.
But it was worth the wait. Walters took a Jones pass before cutting inside a defender to unleash a powerful shot from 25 yards that flew into the top corner of the net.
Defensively, the home side were rarely stretched and, with Dave Bayliss and the once again excellent Paul Lin-wood holding the rearguard, Dennis Lawrence used the space in front of him to link up well with his colleagues going forward.
And behind them, goalkeeper Michael Jones was reduced merely to recycling the ball, although there was an anxious moment when Mark Robin-son's in-swinging free-kick reached the unmarked Rob Clare, who was unable to turn his header back from the far post.
That apart, County found themselves firmly on the back foot as Walters, on three occasions, and Darren Ferguson had chances to heap more woe upon the visitors.
Dean Bennett, chosen to partner Walters up front, forced Ikeme into an error, the keeper handling outside his area in order to deny the makeshift striker a shot, although Ferguson's free-kick flew high over the bar.
It was all too comfortable for incontrol Wrexham but Linwood's overly-ambitious back pass when he should have conceded a throw-in brought County a 45th-minute corner. Fortunately Danny Williams was well-placed on the goal-line to block a goal-bound effort from his namesake, Ashley, and Wrexham made the most of that let-off to kill the game with Jones striking twice in the space of six minutes.
There was an element of good fortune about his first on 51 minutes. Smith, an excellent attacking outlet on the left, hoisted the ball towards Walters but it was defender Tony Vaughan who got there first, his attempted clearance falling perfectly for the midfielder to pick his spot with a crisp shot from 25 yards.
As the Dragons surged forward, they were momentarily caught out by Matt Hamshaw's sudden counter-attack but Michael Malcolm slid a good chance wide of the goal and County were quickly under the cosh again.
Jones was denied by Keith Briggs, who painfully got his face in the way of another pile-driver, and when Smith's perfectlyweighted cross picked out Ferguson, the Wrexham captain squandered the opportunity to mark his 250th league appearance for the club when steering his diving header fractionally wide.
Two minutes later Jones claimed his fifth goal of the campaign, again assisted by Smith's pass which enabled him to measure his strike from 18 yards, although possibly Ikeme seemed to be a touch tardy in covering the space to his right.
Ever the hard taskmaster, Dragons boss Denis Smith said afterwards the young midfielder should have gone on to collect a hat-trick and Jones later went close, pulling another fine effort just wide of the County goal, but, with half an hour to play, it was job done.
County, who made a triple substitution following the third goal, were well-beaten, although they missed a fine chance to reduce the arrears when Hamshaw's free-kick was parried by keeper Jones 12 minutes from the end.
Tes Bramble drove the rebound against an upright and Simon Spender's sliced clearance nearly produced an own goal before the ball was eventually scrambled away to give the home side their first victory - and clean sheet - in six outings.
* MAN OF THE MATCH...
* Mark Jones
* County's defenders simply could not keep him on a tight leash
* MAGIC MOMENT...
Jon Walters' opener - worth the admission price alone
WREXHAM: Michael Jones; Linwood, Bayliss, Lawrence; Spender, D Williams, Ferguson (Mackin 84), Mark Jones, Smith; Walters (McEvilly 87), Bennett (Foy 75). Subs: Ingham, M Williams.
STOCKPORT COUNTY : Ikeme; Vaughan, Greenwood, Clare, Dje; Robinson (C Williams 63), Briggs (Crowe 63), A Williams, Raynes; Hamshaw, Malcolm (Bramble 63). Subs: Spencer, Griffin. BOOKED: A Williams, Raynes.
SENT-OFF : Dje.
REFEREE : Nigel Miller
ATT: 4,153.
NEXT MATCH: Torquay (h), Sat, Oct 15, 3pm
