“Anything with Wembley at the end of it is worth working hard for” insisted Graham Barrow after watching his Wrexham side advance to the second round of the FA Trophy.
The Dragons ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at home over National League North side Boston United to kick off their Trophy campaign, and in a small way make up for their disappointing FA Cup exit at Newport County in midweek.
Wrexham have endured mixed success in the Trophy during their decade in the fifth tier, winning the competition in a penalty shoot-out over Grimsby Town on their first trip to Wembley in 2013 before losing in the same manner two years later to North Ferriby United.
The Trophy is often seen by sides with genuine promotion aspirations as an unwanted distraction, yet Barrow says it is a competition the Dragons will be taking very seriously, despite making five changes to his starting XI for the visit of the Pilgrims.
“You’ve got to take it seriously, anything that has got Wembley at the end of it for me it is worth working hard for,” said the caretaker boss.
“You can rapidly get there too, it is not a long haul, if you get the right draw and possibly get a home draw in the next round then let’s take it.
“I think it becomes a priority now, (there is) nothing wrong with going to Wembley for a final, as I know, and I would take that any day.”
“If we can carry on and we rotate, I don’t think it is any secret that hopefully we can bring in maybe more players (in January) so there will be all to play for.”
Barrow made five changes to his starting XI, handing former Boston goalkeeper Christian Dibble a first start of the season in place of a rested Rob Lainton who dropped to bench duty, while Brad Walker filled in at centre-half in place of Shaun Pearson.
And he also gave recalls to midfielder Nicky Deverdics and forwards Chris Holroyd and Mike Fondop, the decision reaping rewards as the later two were both on the scoresheet in a ruthless showing against Boston.
When asked about his decision to rotate players, Barrow added: “That was always the aim even going back weeks ago. We talked about this tie, but all I said to the players was we’ve been maybe boasting how strong the squad is and we’ve been stretched to the limit this week as you can see.
“It was a good response from the lads that came in and it gives you options and something to think about, but really pleased with the lads that came in.
“We go to Aldershot (on Saturday) and then rapidly it is three or four tough games in a short space of time, so we are going to be stretched.
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“I think it was more important that lads got 90 minutes and that wasn’t being disrespectful to the competition, it was more a case of we think the squad is good enough and they had to go out and prove it which they did.
“It was a good exercise for the lads, in fairness to Boston they never ever took their foot off the pedal, even at 3-0 and in the second half, credit to them you can see why they are having a good season.”
