Jennings aiming to sink his old club

THE NEW LAWN 3pm FOREST GREEN v WREXHAM WREXHAM defender James Jennings is looking forward to facing former club Forest Green Rovers today before beginning a three-match spell on the sidelines.

The left-back received a threegame ban after pleading guilty to a violent conduct charge for his part in the mass brawl that erupted at full-time following the derby against Chester on January 21.

But the suspension doesn’t start until next week, so Jennings is free to start at the New Lawn today and against Barrow in midweek.

Jennings signed for Forest Green in 2014 and helped the Gloucestershire club reach the play-offs two years in a row – his second campaign was blighted by an anterior cruciate ligament injury – before joining Cheltenham Town and winning the National League title last summer.

Having joined Wrexham in January on loan until the end of the season, Jennings is hoping to help the Reds complete the double over title chasing Forest Green, who lost 3-1 at The Racecourse in November.

“It’s mixed emotions with Forest Green,” said Jennings. “My first year was a complete write-off because I was out with my ACL.

“Second year we probably should have won the league but we fell short, made it to be the play-offs but got beaten in the final.”

Manager Dean Keates will continue to give the club’s youngsters a chance until the end of the season, with 19-yearold George Harry impressing in the defeat against Gateshead last weekend.

“There’s nine games left and I’m more than prepared to give the lads a chance,” Keates said.

“Performance wise they’ve done OK, they’ve trained well in the early part of the week and we’ll see what happens during the rest of the week.”

Wrexham are 10 points behind fifth-placed Gateshead and Keates acknowledges reaching this season’s play-offs would be a tall order.

“We’re not looking over our shoulder anymore and it’s probably a little too far-fetched to get into the play-offs,” Keates said.

“A lot of teams have got games in hand over us and if they pick up points the gap gets bigger.”

Forest Gren will have defender Mark Ellis available after he won an appeal against a red card against Sutton in midweek.