Wrexham v Rochdale

Monday 26 August 2002

Kick Off 3:00pm

Match Stats

Score and Scorers

Wrexham

2

Rochdale

5

Steve Thomas

13'

Lee McEvilly

17'

Andy Morrell

38'

Paul Simpson

22' 42' (p) 59' (p)
   

Gareth Griffiths

24'

Starting Line Ups

Wrexham

Rochdale

01

Andy Dibble

01

Neil Edwards

18

Shaun Pejic 68'

02

Wayne Evans

04

Steve Roberts

05

Gareth Griffiths

06

Dennis Lawrence

06

Steve Macauley

02

Jim Whitley

10

Matt Doughty

10

Darren Ferguson

20

Lee Duffy

19

Steve Thomas 63'

07

David Flitcroft

07

Carlos Edwards

09

Michael Oliver 90'

03

Shaun Holmes 68'

14

Paul Simpson 90'

09

Lee Trundle

18

Lee McEvilly 69'

17

Andy Morrell

21

Clive Platt

Substitutes

Wrexham

Rochdale

14

Paul Edwards 63'

13

Matthew Gilks (GK)

15

Dan Bennett 68'

19

Kevin Townson 90.

23

Hector Sam 68'

24

Richard Jobson

22

Luke Campbell

24

Paul Connor 69'

13

Kristian Rogers (GK)

29

Scott Warner 90'

Yellow and Red Cards

Wrexham

Rochdale

41'

Dennis Lawrence - Dissent

49'

Michael Oliver - Foul

45'

Shaun Holmes - Foul

 

 

73'

Andy Morrell - Blocking keeper

 

 

Other Info

Venue:

Racecourse Ground

Half Time:

2-4

Attendance:

4,340

Referee:

P Rejer - Worcestershire

 

 

Match Report

NINE MINUTES OF MADNESS

By Mark Williams

 

3:16pm the sun was shining, Wrexham had just taken the lead, playing flowing football, fans were dreaming of promotion and within nine minutes disaster had struck, or was it a sense of reality?

Mistake after mistake in the Wrexham defence let in Rochdale for three goals, all of which could have been prevented. The first came on seventeen minutes when Wrexham had at least three opportunities to clear the danger from Paul Simpson's in swinging corner. Thomas' header at the near post only went in the air and Wrexham again failed to clear the ball to safety and it was returned to the far post where three defenders hesitated to allow Lee Mcevilly the simple task of smashing past Dibble from inside the six yard box.

Five minutes later and Rochdale had taken the lead after another mix up in the Wrexham defence when Paul Simpson's in swinging free kick from the touch line evaded everybody and bounced into the far corner with Andy Dibble rooted to the spot. The obvious is to blame Dibble, and he must accept a large part of the blame, but it was criminal for the defenders to allow the ball to bounce across the penalty without any effort being made to clear the danger. It could have been quite possible for a Rochdale attacker no nip in unmarked but in the end Simpson's effort went straight in. Simpson has always delivered quality balls whenever I have watched him play but on this occasion even he will admit it was a fluke.

It got worse three minutes later after another individual error allowed Rochdale to extend their lead. Another corner from Simpson, this an out swinger from the left, was struck to the near post where Jim Whitley inexplicably cushioned down a header into the feet of Gareth Griffiths who scored in similar fashion as the first with a drive past Dibble from six yards.

There was an air of disbelief now surrounding the Racecourse and the flowing passing move that created the opening goal for Wrexham was now a distant memory. It all started from a throw out from Andy Dibble to Carlos Edwards. He picked up the ball deep in his own half on the right wing and passed the ball up to Trundle just inside Rochdale's half. Trundle laid off to Jim Whitley who fed in Edwards down the right who had created the overlap. Edwards advanced to the edge of the area before putting in a pin point cross to Steve Thomas who fired in a shot past Edwards into the bottom corner from fifteen yards.

It took Wrexham a while to get back from the setback of conceding three quick goals but they did finally create some opportunities. Shaun Holmes fired a left foot drive wide of the far post after being put in down the left and Jim Whitley fired over after a corner was only cleared to the edge of the area. The best chance came when Trundle had a shot from the edge of the area that had beaten Edwards and rebounded back off the bar into the path of Holmes. He smashed in the rebound from close range but Edwards managed to pick himself of the ground to turn the ball around the post for a corner. I am not sure if Edwards new much about the save as the shot was struck with some force but he did show great reflexes to react so quickly to the rebound.

Wrexham did pull one back through a brilliant finish from Andy Morrell with eight minutes of the first half remaining. A ball over the top from Shaun Pejic was latched onto by Morrell and after taking it into the box he fired in an unstoppable volley across the body of Edwards into the bottom corner. Morrell almost brought the score level within minutes when he stooped to head a left wing cross but he directed the ball the wrong side of the near post.

With Wrexham just having got themselves back in the game they were hit by big blow when Rochdale were awarded a controversial penalty with three minutes of the first half remaining. The incident happened when Lawrence took the ball down on the edge of the area and was about to clear it when Lee Mcevilly nipped in and took the ball away from Lawrence as he just swung his boot and caught Mcevilly in the process. There was no doubt a foul had been committed by Lawrence but the incident looked as if it had taken place outside the area but referee Rejer stood his ground and Lawrence received the yellow card for protesting. Despite the delay Simpson kept his cool to send Dibble the wrong way from the spot as Rochdale went in with a commanding 4-2 lead at half time from an entertaining first half.

Denis Smith made no changes for the start of the second half but received another blow within twelve minutes of the restart when Rochdale were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon. This one was a lot more clear cut when Shaun Pejic lost it and shoved Lee Mcevilly in the back and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Paul Simpson stepped up to complete his hat trick and the game was realistically all over as a contest.

Wrexham did try to get their game going with Denis Smith fetching on Paul Edwards, Dan Bennett and Hector Sam for the last twenty five minutes but it was Rochdale who almost extended their lead after Andy Dibble did a very good impression of David Seaman against Brazil! A floated cross from the left wing was misjudged by the back stepping Dibble and rebounded onto the cross bar and post before bouncing down into the six yard box but a Wrexham defender managed to get a block on the rebound to deny a certain goal and Wrexham managed to clear the ball to safety.

Lee Trundle hit the cross bar for the second time as Wrexham tried to build up some momentum for a fight back when he met Darren Ferguson's corner with a firm header. Dan Bennett then had a glorious opportunity to pull one back after he had a free header from twelve yards but put the ball wide from Ferguson's corner. He was the first Wrexham player to really attack the ball from set plays and if only more players, especially Dennis Lawrence, would follow Bennett's policy then we would be a lot less suspect defending crosses as well as becoming more dangerous in attack.

Paul Edwards put in some good crosses from the left after his introduction but none of the attackers took a gamble to run onto the across and Edwards was then unlucky after he was fed in down the left side of the area. He met the ball sweetly but his namesake in the Rochdale goal pulled off a brilliant one handed save to turn the ball over for a corner. Andy Morrell had the last real chance for Wrexham to add some respectability to the score line but after cutting back from the touch line he could only manage to toe poke the ball into the hands of Edwards with a weak effort from six yards.

The 5-2 score line flattered Rochdale as Wrexham did play some flowing football and had eighteen shots on goal compared to the visitor's eight. But the defensive errors that plagued us last season resurfaced again and cost us dearly as Rochdale took full advantage of these. The turning point of the game was the first penalty but don't forget the errors that led to the three opening goals.

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Detailed Match Reports
BBCi: Wrexham 2 Rochdale 5 - Minute-by-minute
Rochdale AFC.com: Wrexham 2 Dale 5 (FIVE) - Full report online
Rochdale FC: Simmo Treble Wrex'em
Rochdale Observer: Simpson runs the show for five-star Dale
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Other Match Reports
Ananova: Simpson hat-trick boosts Rochdale
BBCi: Wrexham 2-5 Rochdale
Nationwide Football: Wrexham 2, Rochdale 5
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audio Audio Reports and Quotes audio
Red Passion Audio Report with Mark Williams
Wrexham Boss Denis Smith: "There were some good things to take out of the game" (RealPlayer format)
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Press Conference Quotes
Denis Smith: "I thought we played well and generally we were the better team, but it happens and you can’t do much about when it does. The only thing they are good at is free kicks and we gave far too many away set plays. The second one was a fluke, the lad didn’t intend it and the first penalty wasn’t a pen. So all of once you are chasing from a position when you should be leading. Now we have put this behind us, because we are better than this and we know we can play. They are not going to score five goals every week playing like that, but we might! Generally it was disappointing to lose two penalties, although there is no argument with the second, but I’m told by the lads that the first was well outside the box, which made life very difficult. We have hit the woodwork three times and if we continue to play like that then I’ll expect us to do well.” [Source: Wrexham AFC]
Paul Simpson: "If we'd have come away from here today with nothing it would have been a totally wasted weekend, but we've emerged with four points from the two games and the dressing room is a hell of a happy place. It was a strange and tough game. We knew they were good going forward and they would try and play because it's a lovely surface to play football on. If you can get the ball on the ground and shift it from side to side we knew we would cause them all sorts of problems. People can moan about the decisions made today, whether they where inside or outside the box and I don't give a stuff what anyone says. We battered them today 5-2 and the result doesn't tell any lies. I've heard the comments made about the game by Dennis Smith and I don't want to get into a slanging match. I have a lot of respect for him and I like him. I have had some good conversions with him and he gave me some good advice whilst we were in the Isle of Man. It doesn't matter to me what he says, we came here to get three points and we've got three points, five goals are five goals whether you score them from set pieces or open play and we'll take them whichever way come." [Source: Rochdale FC]
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Division Three
Results

Bournemouth

Holmes 42'

1-1

Oxford United

Basham 47'

Waterman Sent Off 90'

4,842

Tuesday

Bristol Rovers

Grazioli 33'

Tait 52'

Astafjevs 84'

3-1

Swansea City

Moss 80'

6,644

Tuesday

Bury

Newby 20' 57'

Dunfield 46'

Abbott 53'

4-3

Shrewsbury Town

Jemson 62' 72' 73'

2,866

 

Darlington

Naylor 56' 81'

2-0

Carlisle United

5,163

Tuesday

Exeter City

Coppinger 41'

1-2

Torquay United

Graham 26'

Beddeau 45'

6,065

 

Hartlepool United

Williams 32'

Watson 63'

2-0

Hull City

4,236

 

Leyton Orient

0-0

Kidderminster Harriers

4,147

 

Lincoln City

Yeo 41' 83'

Willis 51'

3-0

Macclesfield Town

2,444

 

Rushden & Diamonds

Lowe 10'

Burgess 50'

Hunter Sent Off 62'

2-0

Scunthorpe United

3,849

 

Southend United

Broad 7'

Smith 30'

2-1

Cambridge United

Riza 28'

4,462

 

Wrexham

Thomas 13'

Morrell 38'

2-5

Rochdale

McEvilly 17'

Simpson 21' 24' (p) 59' (p)

Griffiths 24'

4,340

 

York City

Duffield 22'

Nogan 52'

2-0

Boston United

4,228

 

League Table

 
Pos Team                   P  W  D  L   F   A   GD Pts
------------------------------------------------------
 1  Rushden and Diamonds   5  3  2  0  11   4    7  11
 2  Hartlepool United      5  3  1  1   8   4    4  10
 3  York City              5  3  1  1  10   7    3  10
------------------------------------------------------
 4  Rochdale               5  3  1  1   9   6    3  10
 5  Darlington             5  2  2  1   7   5    2   8
 6  Wrexham                5  2  2  1   6   7   -1   8
 7  Lincoln City           5  2  1  2   6   4    2   7
------------------------------------------------------
 8  Leyton Orient          5  2  1  2   6   5    1   7
 9  Bury                   5  2  1  2   9   9    0   7
10  Shrewsbury Town        5  2  1  2   9   9    0   7
11  Southend United        5  2  1  2   7   7    0   7
12  Cambridge United       5  2  1  2   6   6    0   7
13  Oxford United          5  2  1  2   4   4    0   7
14  Torquay United         5  2  1  2   8  10   -2   7
15  Carlisle United        5  2  1  2   3   5   -2   7
16  Kidderminster          5  1  3  1   6   7   -1   6
17  Bristol Rovers         5  1  2  2   6   6    0   5
18  Swansea City           5  1  2  2   9  10   -1   5
19  Scunthorpe United      5  1  2  2   4   7   -3   5
20  Exeter City            5  1  1  3   8   9   -1   4
21  AFC Bournemouth        5  0  4  1   4   6   -2   4
22  Macclesfield Town      5  1  1  3   5   8   -3   4
23  Hull City              5  0  3  2   5   9   -4   3
------------------------------------------------------
  24  Boston United          5  1  2  2   5   7   -2   1*
*Boston deducted four points for financial irregularities

Sporting Life League Roundup
Rushden & Diamonds stayed top of Nationwide Division Three with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Scunthorpe on Monday. Onandi Lowe opened the scoring after 10 minutes and Andy Burgess made it two five minutes after the break, although the win was somewhat blighted by Barry Hunter's dismissal for two yellow cards late on.

Peter Duffield maintained his record of scoring in every game so far this season as York kept up their 100 percent home record against Boston United to go second. Duffield struck in the 22nd minute with Lee Nogan following up seven minutes into the second half as the Minstermen continued their impressive form this season.

Nigel Jemson struck an eight-minute hat-trick as Shrewsbury almost pulled off a remarkable comeback against Bury at Gigg Lane. The Shakers looked to be cruising as they went 4-0 up with Jon Newby (20 and 57), Terry Dunfield (46) and Pawel Abbott (53) all hitting the back of the net. Jemson struck in the 65th, 72nd and 73rd minutes to threaten an amazing turnaround but the hosts held on.

Player-manager Paul Simpson claimed a hat-trick as Rochdale triumphed 5-2 in a goal fest at Wrexham. Stephen Thomas (13) opened the scoring but Lee McEvilly levelled for the visitors four minutes later before Simpson and Gareth Griffiths made it three. Andrew Morrell (38) pulled one back for the Welshmen but Simpson converted form the spot three minutes from half-time and added another penalty in the 59th.

Tony Bedeau struck the winner as Torquay won the Devon derby at Exeter. Bedeau pounced on the stroke of half-time, minutes after James Coppinger (41) had levelled for the hosts. David Graham had put the visitors in front in the 26th minute.

Jay Smith's 30th-minute strike proved enough for Southend to overcome Cambridge at Roots Hall. Stephen Broad (7) had given the hosts an early lead but Omer Riza pulled United level after 28 minutes.

Gordon Watson grabbed his third of the season as Hartlepool maintained their promising start to the season with a 2-0 win over Hull. The Tigers are still without a win after Eifion Williams (32) and Watson (63) secured the three points.

Leyton Orient and Kidderminster shared the points in a goalless draw at Brisbane Road, and Lincoln cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Macclesfield, with Simon Yeo (41 and 83) and Scott Willis (51) netting.
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