Mansfield took the lead early in the second half following a lacklustre opening period, and Wrexham needed a 70th minute free-kick from Michael Proctor – making his first start following eight consecutive substitute appearances – to earn a point.

The share of the spoils means Wrexham remain six points from safety, although they have three games in hand on Macclesfield Town who occupy the final spot above the drop zone.

And captain Hope, pleased that none of the four sides above Wrexham sealed victory at the weekend, said the Reds' bid for survival is still very much alive.

"We looked at some of the other results and it is not as bad as we first thought," said Hope today.

"Everyone thought we needed three points against Mansfield but other teams have only picked up a point, and some have lost, so it is still there for us to get out of.

"Macclesfield only drew, we have got three games in hand on them, are only six points behind them and we have still got to play them at our place, so we are still in it.

"There are 14 games left – a third of the season – and a lot of points to play for so it is not all doom and gloom yet.

"We will keep working hard and we've still got to play a lot of teams who are around us in the table before the end of the season."

Reds' boss Brian Little admitted Wrexham had struggled but stressed that the Reds are still in touch with their fellow strugglers.

"We look at other results and we can still see that we are there," said Little. "We still have to play teams above us and have a number of games in hand and if we can win a couple, can really catch them.
"We are still in there, that's the main thing."

Although Hope was hoping Wrexham would clinch victory against Mansfield, who still have a four point advantage over the Reds and have played a game more, he was pleased to emerge with a point after going behind to a fortuitous deflected goal.

"We haven't come in thinking, 'yes, we've got a point', because we wanted to win. We got a point but we would have liked all three," said Hope.

"We can play a lot better. We did not play like we know we can, and how we have in previous weeks.

"Neither side looked like scoring and it looked as if it was going to be one of those 0-0 drab games but they got a lucky, deflected goal which can set you back.

"But we showed a bit of character and did to well to get a goal back.

"There is a good spirit in the squad and we know what we can do. Michael scored a great free-kick and we tried to push on and get another but it wasn't to be."

Hope returned to the side against the Stags following a four game absence.

Sent off against Morecambe at the end of January, Hope was handed a one match ban and he saw Mike Williams take advantage to claim a run in the side.

Hope returned to the centre of defence in place of the injured Steve Evans and he was disappointed the Reds failed to keep a clean sheet on his comeback.

"It was nice to get back in the side again," added Hope.

"Getting suspended was my own stupid fault and I have had to bide my time but now have got my place back.

"It would have been nice to keep a clean sheet but sometimes you can't legislate for goals like they've scored.

"And we gave the ball away far too cheaply in all areas of the pitch. If you do things like that you are going to struggle."


- The last remaining tickets for Sunday's derby against Chester City at The Deva Stadium have been snapped up by season ticket holders.

That means there will be no general sale of tickets for non season ticket holders.


Ask Brian

If you have a question for Brian Little email it to digitalnews@nwn.co.uk and we'll ask as many as we can during our next video interview with the Reds boss this Thursday.