MANNY SMITH believes Wrexham have made big progress this season but now they have to finish the job off.

Wrexham's 16 game unbeaten run in the National League came to an end on Monday as the Reds lost 1-0 at home to promotion rivals Boreham Wood.

Despite the defeat, Wrexham are fourth in the table, 13 points behind leaders Macclesfield Town and six ahead of AFC Fylde, the side immediately outside the play-offs.

The title is almost certainly beyond Wrexham with only five games to go but Smith refuses to dwell on the first defeat since going down 4-1 at Macclesfield on December 9 and is focussed on finishing in the top-seven.

"We have got five games left now and most of the results went our way," said Smith, who will be looking to bounce back when Wrexham visit mid-table Eastleigh on Saturday.

"We have just got to cement our position now.

"It is disappointing, we haven't lost in a long while. It is just a reminder really of how far we have come and how well we have done.

"It is not nice being beaten but we have got a massive game on Saturday now.

"It is not going to be an easy game but we have just got to go out there and not lose. That is the main thing, and stick together as a team.

"We have got that bounce back ability, we have just got to prove it and show it."

Boreham Wood scored the only goal from a hotly disputed penalty in the 10th minute and Wrexham were dealt another blow at the start of the second half when right-back Kevin Roberts was shown a straight red card following an off the ball incident.

Wrexham were second best throughout and although referee Paul Marsden made some baffling decisions, Smith praised fans for their backing throughout the Easter Monday contest.

"You have got to be careful what you say about the referee nowadays but I think some of the decisions were blatantly wrong," said Smith.

"Even down to certain throw-ins when it blatantly came off a player and he gave it to the opposition.

"You can't really help things like that.

"When you are down to 10 men it makes it a little bit more difficult but the crowd were right behind us from the word go and that is going to be massive going into these last five games.

"Even when we went down to 10 men, you could feel it; we were going to get another chance and we weren't going to lie down and it was not going to be two, three, four nil.

"We kept on going and believed we were going to get something out of the game but it just never happened."

Teams who finish second and third will have home advantage in a one-legged play-off semi-final while fourth will entertain seventh and fifth host sixth in a preliminary round tie.

It looks as though Wrexham will miss out on the lone automatic promotion spot but Andy Davies, who has taken over as manager from Dean Keates until the end of the season, just wants to finish as high as possible.

"The advantage is trying to finish as high as possible in the league," said Davies.

"Second and third place reduces the number of games that you have to play and gives you home advantage as well so finishing as high as possible is huge for a number of teams in there, and us being one of them."