I just close my eyes and pray.

Neither way is right or wrong, although, in your first scenario, you should let it lose altitude, while maintaining or losing speed, not gaining speed. If you are gaining speed, you are coming in at too steep of an angle. The airplane should dictate what that angle should be.

It is also a good idea to stay on the short side of a landing... in other words, be in a position where you may need to add a little throttle to make it to the runway.

Ever fly a commercial jet? Ever see one over-shoot a landing? (well, ok, maybe once in a great while) For the most part, you will hear them power up the engines while they are on final approach because it's much easier to add power when you'r coming in short than to bleed excess speed off.