Saunders hits out at Wrexham FC fixture congestion

Sep 2 2010

Daily Post

Wrexham FC manager Dean Saunders has hit out at having to play their opening six Blue Square Bet Premier fixtures in the space of just 16 days.

The Dragons won two, drew two and lost two, and find themselves 12th in the table with eight points.

But Saunders blamed the loss of three players in Monday’s 2-0 win at Bath City on the amount of fixtures played.

“It’s a ridiculous schedule that they’ve had to go through,” Saunders said.

“Marvin Andrews has come off with a hamstring, Adrian Cieslewicz has come off with a hamstring, Frank Sinclair pulled his groin and it’s just overuse of players.

“I tried to put a few fresh legs in there and the ones I put in did well.”

Saunders has already come under fire from supporters over their form, but did not blame Wrexham’s average start to the season on the fixtures schedule.

He says they should be higher in the table had they not been “robbed” by two penalties in the 4-3 defeat at Eastbourne, and not conceded a two-goal lead in the 2-2 draw with Kidderminster.

“We should be sat top of the league really,” added Saunders. “We’re doing all right, but I’m not getting carried away. I didn’t when we lost a couple, I know we’re going to lose games, but we’re going to win more than we lose.

“I think the team I’ve got is better than the team I had last year. I’m hoping we’re going to be in there at the end of the season.”

Wrexham travel to Newport County on Sunday for their first Welsh non-league derby meeting.

Related article:

BBC Sport: Wrexham fixtures anger Saunders