Wright striving to stay positive

Mark Wright felt his side deserved more for their efforts at Shrewsbury

Chester City manager Mark Wright has urged his squad to try to remain upbeat following their latest loss, 1-0 at Shrewsbury on Tuesday night.

Richard Walker's second-half strike condemned City, who ended the match with 10 men following Jay Harris's dismissal, to a sixth defeat in a row.

Wright told BBC Radio Merseyside: "It's hard, let's keep a smile on our face.

"On another day we could have been 2-0 up, have had something to hang on to and been more resilient."

City midfielder Harris was shown a straight red card with little over 10 minutes of the match remaining for a challenge on Chris Humphrey.

And Wright had few complaints with the referee's decision.

"From where I am it doesn't look too good," he said. "If he is off the floor then we have no argument.

"It's just unfortunate as we can ill afford not to have players around us and that's another one gone."

Following City's string of January departures, and now Harris's impending automatic three-match ban, Wright admits it makes his task of team selection all the more tougher.

"Come training on Thursday when all the kids are at college, we'll only have six or seven out there because the others are nursing injuries," said Wright. "And that doesn't help."