TAKE a deep breath, fasten your seat belts, close your eyes if you want and get ready for a nail-biting, roller-coaster ride to what hopefully will be a top five finish for Wrexham.

The Reds have 450 minutes of football left to make sure they give themselves the best chance of making it fourth-time lucky in the play-off lottery.

History is not on Wrexham's side having twice lost out to Luton Town at the semi-final stage before bowing out to Newport County in the battle of Wales at Wembley in 2013.

Five years on, the Reds have another chance to put the record straight and prove they've got the bottle to rejoin the ranks of the Football League's 92-club next season.

Dean Keates, who suffered those three bouts of play-off misery as a player, has revitalised Wrexham's fortunes this season, helped by 'a quality-not-quantity transfer policy' last summer.

The lure of a return to manage his home-town club led Keates to quit as Wrexham boss last month as he ditched The Racecourse and a cushy three-and-a-half-year deal at League One strugglers Walsall.

It was a cruel blow for everyone at the club. The fans, the players and especially the board, who after failing in previous managerial recruitments, looked to finally have picked the chosen.

But Keates is king no more. His right hand man Andy Davies now leads Wrexham into the final five game run-in, starting with a game the Reds can't afford to lose at Eastleigh tomorrow.

Wrexham, who surprisingly went down 1-0 to Boreham Wood at The Racecourse on Monday, haven't lost back-to-back league games all season. And that bodes well ahead of one of three lengthy away trips in a challenging set of fixtures.

The Reds head to far-flung Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday and also visit Leyton Orient on April 21. Wrexham have a home game against Dagenham and Redbridge sandwiched a week tomorrow before finishing the season in what could be a must-win match against AFC Fylde on April 28.

Fylde's 3-1 win at Barrow on Tuesday kept them on course for a top-seven finish but Dave Challinor's side could still head to The Racecourse in three week's time needing a win fight off the challenge from the likes of Dover, Bromley and Ebbsfleet.

Wrexham should have done enough by then to ensure they don't face a last-day dilemma of wlll-they-or-won't-they?

But having lost out on the title to Macclesfield Town, a team managed by John Askey, who was in he frame to be Wrexham boss at one stage, the next-best top three finish may also be out of Wrexham's grasp.

Having won as many games as they've drawn this season, the law of averages says Wrexham will win two and draw two of their final five games.

That would put them on 76 points which will probably see them finish sixth with Tranmere Rovers and Sutton United sneaking into the top three along with champions-elect Macclesfield Town.

Boreham Wood, who have end-of-season momentum, and Aldershot Town, who have three very winnable home game against Maidenhead, Gateshead and Barrow, would be fourth and fifth with Fylde taking seventh spot.

This is all guesswork at this stage and the good news for Wrexham fans is my predictions this season have been as bad as weatherman Bill Giles 'they'll be no hurricane' weather forecast before the October storm devastation in 1987.

I blame my optimism on saying Wrexham will win that one - and hopefully that's exactly what they'll do on the way to play-off glory at Wembley Stadium on May 12.

But to do that, they need match-winners to produce that little bit of magic when they need it most and that may have to be at Aldershot on Wednesday May 6 and then again at Prenton Park three days later.

WREXHAM: 7 Eastleigh A; 10 Ebbsfleet A; 14 Dagenham H; 21 L Orient A; 28 Fylde H.

MACCLESFIELD: 7 Ebbsfleet A; 10 Boreham Wood A; 21 Eastleigh A; 28 Dagenham H.

SUTTON: 7 Fylde A; 10 Halifax A; 17 Hartlepool H; 21 Ebbsfleet A; 28 Aldershot H

BOREHAM WOOD: 7 Halifax A; 10 Macclesfield H; 17 Chester H; 21 Bromley A; 28 Guiseley H.

ALDERSHOT: 7 Maidenhead H; 14 Tranmere A; 17 Gateshead H; 21 Barrow H; 28 Sutton A.

TRANMERE: 7 Chester A; 10 Gateshead H; 14 Aldershot H; 17 Dover A; 21 Halifax A; 24 Solihull H; 28 Hartlepool H.

DOVER: 7 Torquay H; 14 Maidenhead A; 17 Tranmere H; 21 Gateshead H; 28 Woking A.

FYLDE: 7 Sutton H; 10 Torquay A; 14 Woking A; 21 Solihull H; 28 Wrexham A.

BROMLEY: 7 Gateshead H; 10 Chester A; 14 Woking A; 17 Dagenham H; 21 Boreham Wood; 24 Barrow H; 28 Maidenhead A.

EBBSFLEET: 7 Macclesfield H; 10 Wrexham H; 14 Barrow A ; 21 Sutton H; 24 Gateshead A; 28 Torquay A.