DEAN SAUNDERS believes the improving condition of The Racecourse pitch will help Wrexham maintain their excellent home form.
Wrexham are unbeaten in their previous six home matches in the Blue Square Premier and last suffered a league defeat in front of their own fans when Hayes and Yeading triumphed 2-0 on November 14.
Seven of Wrexham’s remaining 17 matches are at The Racecouse, starting with tomorrow’s visit of high-flying Stevenage Borough.
And despite fears about the state of The Racecourse pitch after Wrexham and rugby league outfit Crusaders both staged matches at the weekend, Saunders is confident that the work carried out last summer will lead to an improvement in the playing surface for the final two months of the season.
“We haven’t lost at home in the league since Hayes and Yeading which is a good record,” he said.
“The pitch is starting to cut up now, obviously, we are getting to the latter stages of the season.
“Probably in a fortnight the grass will start growing again and the weather gets a bit better.
“The pitch should be better at the end of the season than it was at the end of last season because of the work we did on it in the summer.
“At the minute, it is hard to knock the ball around on it but we have been doing okay.”
Saunders is optimisitc that tomorrow’s clash with second placed Stevenage will survive the wintry weather and go ahead.
“We have got the sheets on the pitch so I don’t think there will be a doubt over the game being on,” said Saunders.
“The pitch is not in a great condition. We will get the sheets off, put the divets back and then put the sheets back on.
“Hopefully we don’t get any snow. The problem is if last minute snows starts coming down tomorrow, but hopefully we don’t get any.
“Normally it is a Tuesday night game so the lads have got an extra day to recharge the battteries.”
Nearly 7,000 spectators saw Crusadaers beat Hull in Sunday’s Super League clash compared with 2,475 who were present for Wrexham’s 2-0 victory over Crawley Town 24 hours earlier.
“That is rugby league at the highest level. It is great that they are getting good crowds,” said Saunders.
“If they keep winning, they will get more crowds. If we keep winning, we will get good crowds.”
But Saunders admitted he was disappointed with Wrexham’s performance for large parts of the first half against Crawley.
There was an improvement after the break and goals from Mike Williams and Matty Wolfenden secured victory; and Saunders stressed the need for Wrexham to be solid in defence when they are not playing to their full potential.
“We have just got to make sure when we are not clicking and playing great that we don’t concede goals, which is what we did on Saturday,” he said.
“The first 20 minutes we were alright, the 20 minutes before half-time I thought we were poor. People started doing their own thing.
“We put it right half-time and second half we come out and got in behind their back four.”
Saunders believes 12th placed Wrexham will be able to cope with Stevenage’s physical presence and can record another victory.
“They are a big strong team but so are we. And we have got players who can play football,” said Saunders.
“I was pleased with the second half performance against Crawley, we could have scored seven or eight if you look at all the chances we had throughout the game.
“But we took two of the chances and they were two good goals. We have got to try and get another three points tomorrow.”
While he has been in impressive form for Wrexham, Saunders believes midfielder Christian Smith, who returned to the side at the weekend after serving a two-match ban, can get even better.
“I could see that Christian hadn’t played,” said Saunders. “He was not as sharp as he normally is around the pitch, which is understandable because he hasn’t played.
“Christian still did a defensive job for us. Occasionally he will make mistakes with the ball but every day he is learning and listening, and he will improve.
“He has got good attributes. Christian is 6’3”, he is strong, aggressive and he heads it in both boxes.”
Saunders is hoping strikers Wes Baynes and Lamine Sakho will recover from injuries sustained at the weekend in time to face Stevenage. “Wes has a knock on his ankle and Lamine has got a bit of a hamstring,” added Saunders.
“Gareth Taylor will be fitter but Frank Sinclair is not ready for a game yet.
“We will see how everyone is today.”