SAM RICKETTS doesn't want his players to lose focus on their primary goal before facing Newport County in an eagerly awaited FA Cup clash.

Wrexham have been drawn against the League Two Exiles in an all-Welsh second round tie which is scheduled to take place over the weekend of Friday November 30.

Before then, National League leaders Wrexham have three vital games in the push for promotion.

Saturday's trip to Maidstone United is followed by a top of the table home match against Leyton Orient the weekend after, while the Reds visit Barrow on Tuesday, November 27, and Ricketts is demanding no let-up on the league front.

"There is no point getting distracted by the FA Cup," said Ricketts, who saw Wrexham advance with a 2-0 first round win at National League South strugglers Weston-super-Mare on Sunday.

"It is a good thing and it means the club are doing well, that we are progressing through the rounds and it is another tie which people take an interest in.

"But ultimately we are all here to try and get out of this league and there are three massive league games.

"The league is that tight that we are averaging over two points a game and we are one point clear at the top which means we have got no margin for error.

"It is not as if you can switch off for the next couple of games and think 'it's alright, we will pick it back up after the FA Cup tie'.

"It can't happen that way. What if you win the FA Cup and then you are in the third round and it all goes on again.

"You have to use it as a positive, as momentum, and you do that by putting in another good performance at Maidstone."

Wrexham head to 18th placed Maidstone on the back of a 10-game unbeaten run and whatever the competition, Ricketts just wants to continue winning football matches.

"Everyone keeps talking about the FA Cup as a distraction, for me it is not," said Ricketts. "It is just another game.

"We want to win every game we go into and it builds momentum.

"Obviously it is a little bit different but our process never changed going into the FA Cup game so it doesn't change now coming back into the league.

"It is the same thing, we are going to try and win a game to maintain our start to the season."

Wrexham returned to the top of the table for the first time since the start of September after beating Gateshead 3-1 in their last league outing.

But with Orient, Salford City and Harrogate Town all within four points of the Reds, Ricketts knows his side face still competition for top spot with nearly half of the season gone.

"We were top earlier on in the season and then we dropped off," added Ricketts.

"We have never been a million miles away, been there or thereabouts.

"It is really tight with three or four teams right in and amongst it, so we know if you want to stay up there you have to keep winning games."