Dragons’ saviour Carey takes boss’s hot seat full-time

BRIAN CAREY has been appointed Wrexham manager on a permanent basis.

The Cork man, in temporary charge at the Racecourse Ground since Denis Smith was shown the door in January, successfully evaded League Two relegation in his first managerial stint and has now signed a two-year contract.

The move comes as no surprise after Wrexham co-owner Neville Dickens broadly hinted Carey would be leading the Dragons into the new season, while the boss had already begun sorting out players’ contracts earlier in the week.

Michael Ingham and Lee Roche were both released, while Shaun Pejic, Simon Spender, Gareth Evans, Levi Mackin, Marc Williams, Michael Carvill, Jamie Reed and Andy Fleming are all considering new deals.

After a difficult start, Carey and assistant Joey Jones helped to save the season with four wins from the last five games.

They were staring down the relegation barrel at half-time in Saturday’s crunch game, trailing Boston 1-0 after an awful first 45 minutes.

The players have credited Carey and Jones with giving them the “rollocking” that helped inspire three second-half goals to send the Pilgrims down, but the manager was keen to praise the efforts of others.

“The players did this, not me,” Carey said. “They realised they were on the way down to the Conference, and that snapped them into life.

“It was a dreadful first half, the occasion got to us, but we had too much quality in the end.

“Ryan Valentine deserves credit for the composure he showed to score the crucial penalty.

“That was the biggest game in the club’s history and people will remember it for a very long time.

“But we can’t really celebrate because we haven’t done anything. This is a game that we must use as a springboard for the club. It’s an opportunity to take strides forward and put fears of relegation from the league a long way behind.”