'Big effort from everyone' will boost play-off push

Max Cleworth believes Wrexham have all the credentials to be a Championship play-off team after a battling 2-1 victory against Portsmouth moved them four points clear of the chasing pack in the race for sixth.

"I think if anyone had offered us where we were at the start of the season, people would have snapped my hand off," said Cleworth, the player with the most appearances under Phil Parkinson.

"It's a good place to be and we've certainly got the squad to keep going in the last 12 games."

Following Sam Smith's opener, defender Cleworth scored Wrexham's second with a header from George Dobson's corner.

It proved decisive as Pompey rallied in the second half to halve the deficit through Zak Swanson, although they were unable to find a late equaliser.

"It was a very good first half performance in terms of on the ball chances we had and then a bit more resolute in the second half," said the 23-year-old.

"We watched clips on them the last couple of days and they're a very, very good football team."

The two sides played out a goalless draw at Fratton Park in the reverse fixture, but this time the Red Dragons weren't to be denied as their unbeaten run stretched to four games in all competitions.

"It's sort of a polar opposite to how they played when we played them at their place, they were a lot more direct, went long and they showed that they can pass it too," added Cleworth.

"They've caused a couple of teams a lot of difficulty on their travels recently, so we didn't want to be the third team to add to that and thankfully we weren't.

"There's lots of different philosophies you notice in this league where managers have different ideas and you've got to be really switched on.

"Tonight, we were just thankful to get three points."

Two successive home wins has kept Wrexham firmly in the play-off conversation, but Cleworth is not getting carried away as the Welsh side travel to Charlton Athletic on Saturday 28 February (15:00 GMT).

"Sometimes it's harder to play the teams towards the bottom," said Cleworth.

"The league is such a good quality that you know anyone can beat anyone on their day so I think you've got to try and go in with the right mentality every game and hopefully that holds us in good stead."