BRYAN HUGHES says the Scottish Challenge Cup has taken on extra significance due to Wrexham's barren run but he will still make changes for tomorrow's clash with Ayr United.

Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Maidenhead United leaves the Reds winless in five outings and down to 16th in the National League.

The league is put on hold as Wrexham welcome Scottish Championship side Ayr to The Racecourse and although he is looking for a morale boosting win, Hughes will tinker with the side.

"I need to get confidence back into these players," said Hughes.

"If we were in a position where I'd hoped we would have been, I would have taken this competition a little bit more lightly.

"It is a bit of a distraction with our current form in the league, and that is our main priority, but we need to get a win on the board.

"It would have been nice to rest a lot of our players but we need to get a confidence boost into the players and tomorrow hopefully might be that.

"There will be changes and it might be good to introduce some of the youth players as well in these competitions which was always in the back of my mind."

Ayr are second in Scotland's second tier having just missed out on promotion to the top-flight last season and Hughes is expecting a difficult game.

"We will look forward to it," added Hughes.

"It is going to be a tough game, Ayr are going well in their league but hopefully we can bounce back.

"Ayr have got a strong team, they started this season off well again.

"It is a different experience for us playing teams from other counties and it gives me an opportunity to rest one or two and give game-time to others."