CHESTER EXIT HAS WREXHAM BOSS PONDERING
Mark Currie - Daily Post

SUNDAY'S dismissal of Chester City manager Bobby Williamson left his Wrexham counterpart Brian Little pondering the ironies of football yesterday.

The Deva Stadium shake-up, which has seen youth team coach Simon Davies put in temporary charge of first-team affairs just a week ahead of the Dragons' derby visit across the border, closely mirrors Little's appointment three months ago when his first match was the corresponding Racecourse clash between the fierce rivals.

"Chester were flying high at the time," mused Little, who in November saw his new charges share the spoils in a 2-2 draw.

"It's an ironic coincidence that the changes at both clubs have come ahead of the derby games, but that's football, isn't it? It's a shame for Bobby, of course, although they have fallen away since the last time we met.

"Nevertheless a lot of people in this division - including us - would like to have the 40 points Chester have already got in the bag."

Switching his focus to Wrexham's build-up to the high noon Sunday meeting, the Racecourse boss admitted that injured pair Steve Evans and Neil Roberts are unlikely to recover in time, but he is optimistic that Danny Sonner will be available.

The influential midfielder was a late withdrawal from the squad ahead of Saturday's Racecourse meeting with Mansfield Town after suffering a reaction to the Achilles tendon strain that had ruled him out of the previous match against Peterborough United.

Little said: "Danny is resting up at home for a couple of days and we'll check on him later in the week, but it looks as though Sunday's game will come too soon for both Steve and Neil.

"Losing all three, who are big players for us and have all made a major contribution to our recent run of results, is disappointing, but when you take that into consideration we'd have to be satisfied with a point from the game with Mansfield.

"It wasn't a great game as we all know and I felt that whoever scored first would go on to win the game. If it had been us, I would have fancied us to repeat the wins we got against Darlington and MK Dons.

"As it was, there was a wicked deflection for their goal and my players deserve some credit for fighting their way back and getting something from the game."

The 1-1 draw leaves Wrexham six points adrift of League Two safety and, although Little is refusing to be panicked into any further radical changes, he admitted that time was not on the Dragons' side.

"There are 14 games to go - that's almost one-third of the season," he added. "But the matches come along much faster at this stage than at the beginning of the season. While there are a lot of points still to play, for time is short and we need to start making a move on the other teams.

"What we need as quickly as possible is to win when the other sides don't. We are not that far away from challenging them and by closing the gap we'll make them more aware of us.

"The other thing a win would do for us is to encourage the belief around the place that we can achieve what we need to do."

FITNESS TEST FOR REDS TRIO
Richard Williams - Wrexham Evening Leader

BRIAN LITTLE is hoping three players win their fitness battles and are declared available for Sunday's derby.

Midfielders Danny Sonner (Achilles) and Neil Roberts, (ankle) and centre-back Steve Evans, all missed the 1-1 draw against Mansfield Town on Saturday.

Little is hopeful that Sonner, a late withdrawal at the weekend after suffering a reaction to the problem which saw him miss the previous match against Peterborough, is passed fit for the derby clash, but he admitted time might be against Roberts and Evans.

"We were missing three or four players against Mansfield on Saturday and that is about 30 per cent of a team," said Little. "That's a big chunk, and Danny, Neil and Steve have all done very well in our recent good run.

"We prepared for Danny in the run up to the game and he trained on Friday, but I had a call on Saturday morning to say his Achilles had flared up again and was sore.

"You can't play with that problem and it was disappointing. I just hope Danny is okay for Sunday and we'll monitor him after a few days rest.

"We will assess Neil and Steve this week. We have to make sure they are right but at the moment I would say they are both doubtful, Neil more so than Steve.

"Sunday might come too early for them but we'll have to wait and see."

Having seen Wrexham battle back to draw against Mansfield, Little stressed the importance of scoring the opening goal to clinch victories in the battle to avoid relegation.

"If we had scored first we would have been more disappointed with the draw," added Little.

"We defended well enough but it always looked like one goal might settle it. We went behind, and it took a massive deflection, but dug in to get back into it.

"We can't go out expecting to play teams off the park at the moment.

"Against Milton Keynes Dons and Darlington, we proved that if we can score first we can win.

"The mentality of not losing is very important. Of course we try to win games but that opening goal is so important."