Wrexham kept their ninth clean sheet of the season in a 1-0 Vanarama National League win against Barnet at the Racecourse.

Experienced striker Stuart Beavon scored the only goal to maintain the Dragons’ bid to sustain a big challenge for promotion back to the Football League.

Manager Sam Ricketts has used 19 players already this season and three of those – goalkeeper Rob Lainton, Luke Summerfield and captain Shaun Pearson – have started every fixture.

“We defended the width of the goal really well and that’s what we have to do,” said manager Sam Ricketts. 

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“I don’t want them to have to do as much defending as they were, but the second half panned out that they had to put their bodies on the line.”

Beavon, 34, is playing for Wrexham on a season-long loan from Coventry City and Ricketts said: “Stuart is a player who has played in all the leagues.

“He knows how to score goals and get in the right position and he took his goal calmly.”

Wrexham earned a first win in three matches following a defeat against Sutton plus the midweek draw at Harrogate and Ricketts said: “You saw our players’ grit and determination in the second half.

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“It was a long week, with two away games and an awful lot of travelling for two matches played on artificial turf, which does sap energy from the players when you are not used to playing on a surface like that.

“It came down to a game of effort, guts and determination and we have that in abundance. That saw us over the line.

“I thought we were really, really good in the first half. Going in 1-0 and it possibly could or should have been two or three. 

“In the second half Barnet made us work extremely hard to get over the line and earn the win.

“We’ve improved on our game management. We were okay at it. Yes we could have been better, but I honestly believe that we ended up running on empty just from the long, hard week we had.

“Fortunately we were already in front and just had to hang on – and hang on we did.”

🗣 | Hear from John Still after today’s defeat at Wrexham #BarnetFC 🐝👇https://t.co/6MH5glXrM9

— Barnet FC 🐝 (@BarnetFC) September 29, 2018

The win kept Wrexham fourth in the National League, with 28 points from 14 games, and are two behind league leaders Salford City ahead of next Saturday’s match at home to Havant & Waterlooville.

Beavon, who scored his third goal of the season with a low strike just before half-time, was one of two changes from the draw with Harrogate. Mike Fondop and Paul Rutherford made way for Beavon and Chris Holroyd.

This was far from Wrexham’s best display of the season, but the character, team spirit and desire they showed to win underlined their determination to maintain  a strong challenge over the season.

Barnet pressed hard in the closing stages when the Dragons kept their shape, defended solidly as a team and kept that crucial clean sheet.

Wrexham AFC: (4-3-3): Lainton, Roberts, Pearson, Lawlor, Carrington, Wright, Summerfield, Walker (Young 82), Beavon, Holroyd (Fondop 53), Maguire-Drew (Rutherford 62). Subs not used: Dibble, Deverdics

Barnet: (4-1-4-1): Cousins, Alexander, Robson, Jules, Tutonda, Adams, Mason-Clark (Kyei 77), Taylor, Fonguck, Sparkes, Barham. Subs not used: Matrevics, Elito, Payne

Referee: Andrew Miller (Durham)

Attendance: 4,727 (away)