DENNIS LAWRENCE believes he can contribute to Wrexham’s promotion bid with more goals.
The Reds are unbeaten in their last five matches, two of which were victories in the FAW Premier Cup competition to set up a final showdown against Swansea City at The Racecourse next month, and giant centre-back Lawrence scored in two of those fixtures.
Injuries saw Lawrence pushed into attack against Welsh Premier League outfit TNS and the 31-year-old duly obliged with a goal, and the Trinidad and Tobago international followed that with a header from a set-piece in the impressive 2-0 victory over highflying Wycombe Wanderers.
And 6ft7in Lawrence hopes there are more goals to come – he has scored three in all competitions this season – as 11th placed Wrexham, who have three games in hand on most of the sides above them in League Two hope to build on their unbeaten run.
“I pushed into attack against TNS because we had no strikers left and I didn’t mind, I was doing it for the team,” said Lawrence today. “We needed someone up front and with my height I know I can cause defences problems in the air. To be honest I enjoy doing it every now and then. I just give it my best shot when I’m pushed into attack, as I was in pre-season in Ireland, and I was happy to get a goal.
“We try and work on set-pieces in training and it’s pleasing when they come off, as it did against Wycombe. I am hoping to get more goals and do my bit to help the team. It benefits us if we can get goals from all areas and from a personal point of view it is always nice to score.
“I think we have picked up recently and are five games unbeaten. I needed to be more consistent and have to keep this run going and I see no reason why we can’t. There is enough talent in the squad and although you would prefer points on the board, we know we still have to go out and win our games in hand.”
Lawrence also believes that Wrexham are capable of automatic promotion if they can maintain form which has seen them unbeaten in the league during February.
“We have to stay positive and dig in when we need to,” said Lawrence. “After our recent results we have a great opportunity of making the play-offs. We are in a good position and just have to stay focused. Automatic promotion is not out of reach and there is no reason why we can’t push for the top-three, though we know it won’t be easy.”
Lawrence will line up in the Reds defence for Saturday’s clash against third-place Northampton Town at The Racecourse on Saturday, and following the showdown, he will then join up with the Trinidad and Tobago squad for their friendly against Iceland at Loftus Road on Tuesday, the Caribbean national’s first fixture since qualifying for this summer’s World Cup finals in Germany.
And Lawrence, who scored the goal in the play-offs against Bahrain to seal Trinidad’s first ever finals’ appearance, is looking forward to meeting up with his team-mates again: “We are meeting up on Sunday and it will be nice for the boys to get back together again,” added Lawrence. “It’s our first match since we qualified and it will be a good test against Iceland.
“There are five new players in the squad and we’ll get to know them, and the match will start things off nicely in the build-up to the World Cup finals.”
Meanwhile, the Wrexham reserves side will again have a youthful look about it when they face Burnley at Buckley Town’s Globe Way tonight (7pm kick-off).
Manager Denis Smith has decided not to risk Dave Bayliss and Alex Smith, but first year professional Levi Mackin and back-up goalkeeper Michael Jones will play along with the other YTS players who have been on the substitutes’ bench for the Reds’ last two matches – Marc Williams, Mike WIlliams and Matty Done.
And Smith was delighted to see the club’s youth policy paying dividends: “It’s brilliant for the youth set-up,” said Smith. “Giving young players a chance is something I have always done, you should be looking to bring them through.
“If I can get all my players fit, and then you have got the YTS players on top of them, it will be good for our run-in.”
There are three executive boxes for Saturday’s match against Northampton Town at The Racecourse on Saturday at a reduced rate. Instead of paying £495 for the standard package, the box for ten people is available at £395.