SKIPPER Dean Keates admits a first defeat of the season has given Wrexham a “kick up the backside.”
Wrexham take on Ebbsfleet United at Stonebridge Road tomorrow (3pm) looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Macclesfield Town.
A combination of sloppy defending - Macclesfield scored both goals from corner kicks - and failure to take a host of chances at the other end was Wrexham’s downfall and midfielder Keates is looking for a positive response against the Fleet.
“There is no doubt this season we will play a lot worse than that and we will win a game,” said Keates. “The first 15-20 minutes of the first half, they were the better team. We didn’t settle, didn’t get hold of the ball and didn’t get passing.
“Eventually we got our way into it and created a few of chances. We were on top but just couldn’t score.
“We had enough chances, we just didn’t take them, and we got stung. That is not like us to concede from set-pieces.
“It is a massive disappointment, it has come second game and it is a kick up the backside for us.
“We have got to get it sorted and we need to go again.”
Wrexham, who beat Woking 3-1 on the opening day of the season and are one of the favourites for promotion, were roared on by around 1,000 travelling fans at Macclesfield.
There is a longer trip to Kent tomorrow in store for supporters hoping to see a first away win of the season and Keates believes a total of six points from a possible nine in the first week of the campaign would be a decent enough return.
“There is a long way to go,” said Keates. “We have picked up three points, obviously we’d have liked six, but it has not happened.
“If we win at the weekend, six points from nine is not too bad.
“We had massive support at Macclesfield and hopefully we will take a few down to Ebbsfleet and they will roar us on.
“The fans were unbelievable on Tuesday and with support like that, hopefully we can drive each other up.
“Six points looks a lot better than it does now, the lads were downhearted from the other night so we will have to go again.”
Wrexham kept a total of 23 league clean sheets last season and Keates, acknowledging that this was the platform for a success, is desperate to get back to shut-outs.
“Last season we were based on clean sheets and I think we got a record for the club,” said Keates.
“As of yet, we have not got a clean sheet in two games. We would liked to have kept at least one, we haven’t so hopefully we can in the next game.”