Wrexham draw stuns boss Little

By RICHARD WILLIAMS

25 March 2008

BRIAN LITTLE was left stunned that Wrexham failed to beat Dagenham and Redbridge at The Racecourse yesterday.

Wrexham created numerous goal scoring chances and put Dagenham under immense pressure, particularly in the second half, but had to be content with a point against their fellow League Two strugglers.

A draw, together with Macclesfield's win against Barnet, leaves rock bottom Wrexham seven points away from safety and with three games in hand on the Silkmen.

But Reds' boss Little admitted it felt like his side had lost after they failed to find the back of the net.

"It's a game we went out to try and win, and it's a game we should have won," said Little today.

"We are disappointed we have not won but there were so many things right.

"Brian Carey said it is a long, long time since he has seen a Wrexham side dominate a game from start to finish without winning.

"That's probably been as strong as we've been in a game in my time here.

"Whether it is a little bit too late to start doing that and get nothing out of it I don't know.

"It feels like a defeat because we have not closed in on anybody. If anything, we have fallen a little bit behind again."

Striker Drewe Broughton had the bulk of Wrexham's chances, and although Little was disappointed not to have beaten Dagenham, he hopes the Reds continue to create as many openings in their crucial remaining nine games.

"It just shows that when we play the likes of Dagenham, Macclesfield and Notts County how important it is to win," said Little.

"Today we haven't won but it is difficult to count how many chances we had.

"I think Drewe had at least six clear headers, some have hit the post or missed the target – and that is just one player.

"We have had bags of chances, good chances. We haven't scrambled away and had one good chance which we have not taken.

"We have more than done enough to win – and that's the major disappointment.

"I just hope we hope we play like that and continue to do that in our remaining games."

The stalemate meant that Wrexham only picked up one point from their Easter double header, having been beaten 2-0 at Brentford 48 hours earlier.

But Little could not criticise his players for their response against fifth from bottom Dagenham who boosted their own chances of avoiding the drop with a point.

"You look at Saturday's game and we had more chances than Brentford," said Little.

"It is a very thin the line between getting it right and just missing out.

"There are things that we are doing right that we weren't doing a couple of weeks ago when we won a couple of games.

"We can't do any more than we are doing. We are there or thereabouts in games.

"We are not going to play anybody off the park, although I thought we did quite well, and all we can do is keep working at it and battling away."

Wrexham still have to play the three sides immediately above them – Mansfield, Macclesfield and Notts County – and Little won't give up in the fight to secure the Reds' Football League status.

"Obviously it gets more and more difficult now," added Little.

"We said before the weekend that two games in three days would make a massive difference to somebody, and us getting one point out of the two games has not helped us very much at all.

"We will be honest enough with ourselves but we won't give up. You saw the players yesterday give it a right go."