Wrexham v Lincoln City

 

Saturday 26 October 2002

 

Kick Off 3:00pm

 

Match Stats

Score and Scorers

Wrexham

0

Lincoln City

2

Dene Cropper

48'

Paul Smith

77'

Starting Line Ups

Wrexham

Lincoln City

21

Paul Whitfield

01

Alan Marriott

04

Steve Roberts

02

Mark Bailey

15

Dan Bennett 82'

17

Mark Camm

18

Shaun Pejic

04

Ben Fucther

07

Carlos Edwards

15

Simon Weaver

02

Jim Whitley 75'

05

Paul Morgan

10

Darren Ferguson

21

Scott Willis

12

Paul Barrett

10

Ben Sedgemore

03

Shaun Holmes

09

Dene Cropper 72'

08

Lee Jones 64'

12

Simon Yeo 56'

11

Andy Morrell

11

Peter Gain

Substitutes

Wrexham

Lincoln City

05

Brian Carey 82'

07

Paul Smith  56'

09

Lee Trundle 75'

13

Paul Pettinger (GK)

13

Kristian Rogers (GK)

14

Chris Ward

19

Steve Thomas

22

Adie Mike  72'

23

Hector Sam 64'

25

Tyrone Thompson

Yellow and Red Cards

Wrexham

Lincoln City

80'

Shaun Holmes - Foul

84'

Simon Weaver - Time wasting

Other Info

Venue:

Racecourse Ground

Half Time:

0-0

Attendance:

3,312

Referee:

Mike Fletcher - Worcestershire
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

Match Report

UNINSPIRING WREXHAM GOT WHAT THEY DESERVED

By Mark Williams

 

What can you say after a performance like that? It is difficult to start because at some points Wrexham looked good but at most both teams looked ordinary mid-table sides and in the end two defensive mistakes allowed Lincoln to leave with all three points.

It is amazing how a side's fortunes can change within a space of a month. In September the Red Dragons looked unstoppable and scoring goals for fun. But since Denis Smith picked up the manager of the month it has been largely downhill since then. Thank God October is almost over!

The defensive mistakes that contributed to our relegation last season returned with Steve Roberts and then Shaun Pejic at fault for the first goal. Yet Dan Bennett was the one later substituted by Brian Carey! Bennett played well spreading the ball around the park with accuracy and was one of very few Wrexham players to come away with any credit. Paul Whitfield played well in goal and his confidence of kicking with both feet looks promising for the future. Apart from that it was hard to take anything from the game.

Wrexham did start the match encouragingly with Andy Morrell's running of the ball causing the Lincoln's defence problems. Carlos Edwards was back after suspension and his presence added an option that had been lacking from our game in the previous three matches. It was from Edwards' cross after six minutes that Wrexham earned their first corner with Ben Fucther having to head clear. The corner didn't result in anything but Wrexham continued to press and created a further chance after a cross from Shaun Holmes on the left found Carlos Edwards but he could not keep his effort down.

Despite Wrexham's early pressure the best chance so far fell to the visitors after twenty minutes when a long throw in from the right by Mark Bailey was flicked on but Paul Whitfield flung himself to his right to save Dene Cropper's header at the far post. It is staggering that a team can allow two free headers in their own area but thankfully Paul Whitfield's reactions were first class to turn the ball around the far post. This was a warning to Wrexham that despite all their possession they failed to create a clear-cut chance and Lincoln should have been in the lead from the simplest of moves.

Dene Cropper had another effort from outside the area but his shot failed to trouble Paul Whitfield. Wrexham's defence continued to live dangerously conceding two corners in quick succession and from the second Cropper saw his header from six yards saved by Paul Whitfield. Carlos Edwards replied for Wrexham but his shot from 30 yards was well wide of the target.

Wrexham should have taken the lead just a couple of minutes short of the half hour mark when Andy Morrell found himself clear on Alan Marriott in the Lincoln goal. A through ball was from Darren Ferguson was picked up by Morrell and after he left the ball bounce a couple of times he fired in a right footed shot that Marriott saved well by going down sharply to his right. A month a go those shots were going in for Morrell but his confidence in front of goal has quickly evaporated but all his intelligent running off the ball was still present. Shaun Holmes tested Alan Marriott with a low left footed drive with a third of the match gone but the game slipped into a lull for the subsequent ten minutes. Both teams had chances near the end with Carlos Edwards denied with a last ditch tackle by Mark Camm on the eighteen-yard line and a cross from Mark Bailey failing to pick out a Lincoln attacker in the last minute.

HALF TIME: WREXHAM 0 LINCOLN CITY 0

It was a disastrous start to the second half for the Red Dragons when they conceded the opening goal after two minutes. It was an awful goal to concede as it started when Steve Roberts completely missed a header from a long punt forward from defender Mark Bailey and Shaun Pejic was then inexplicably muscled off the ball by Dene Cropper who had the simple task to slot the ball under the advancing Paul Whitfield. Wrexham attempted to strike back almost immediately but Andy Morrell's headers from a cross by Shaun Holmes failed to trouble Alan Marriott who held the ball at the first attempt.

After fifty-five minutes Lincoln were forced to make a change when Simon Yeo could not continue following a heavy challenge in the Wrexham area and was replaced by Paul Smith. Two minutes after this Paul Barrett went close with a volley from just outside of the area but his effort was always gong away from the goal and in the end just missed the far post. Lincoln were back on the attack and another long throw from Mark Bailey caused more problems for the Wrexham defence and after a flick on by Ben Futcher, Dene Cropper had an opportunity to double his and the Imp's tally but failed to get any connection on the ball.

Denis Smith replaced Lee Jones with Hector Sam after sixty-four minutes in an attempt to get Wrexham back in the game. Carlos Edwards tested Allan Marriott with a shot and substitute Sam had an effort that was also collected by Marriott. Lincoln replaced scorer Dene Cropper with Aidie Mike with twenty minutes left and within minutes Denis Smith made a tactical change with Lee Trundle replacing Jim Whitley as Wrexham switched to three strikers to push for a equaliser.

Dan Bennett was unlucky with a header from Carlos Edwards' out swinging corner when his header travelled through a crowded penalty area but fell kindly into the arms of Alan Marriott. But Wrexham were hit with the decisive second goal with thirteen minutes left on the clock after the Imps sprung the offside trap. Pejic, Roberts and Bennett were all over the place with Pejic appealing for offside but Bennett was playing Paul Smith onside on the opposite side of the pitch. The goal came from another long ball over the top from defence by Ben Sedgemore and after Paul Smith cut in from the left and evaded the challenge of Steve Roberts in the penalty area he coolly sided footed the ball past Whitfield who was again left exposed by his defenders.

Shaun Holmes ended in the book after a crunching challenge on Paul Smith left the Lincoln player in the dugouts! Denis Smith strangely replaced Bennett with Brian Carey when surely the introduction of Steve Thomas for a defender would have been the correct decision as Wrexham had ten minutes to salvage something from the game.

Both teams failed to create anything of note for the remainder of the game and despite Wrexham forcing corners the Lincoln central defenders were well disciplined all game and cleared the danger. Shaun Pejic had a 'have it' shot that comic Peter Kay from the John Smiths adverts would have been proud off when his strike from 35 yards went deep into the Kop! The game ended with the visitors winning 2-0 and with what left of the Wrexham crowd booing the home team off. 

That last paragraph summed the game up. Lincoln were well disciplined and their defence looked a unit where as Wrexham's young defenders were in desperate need of leadership and experience that surely Brian Carey will give at York on Tuesday night. I cannot remember one occasion when any of the three midfielders made a run past the two strikers as the defenders were left to hit balls over the top. Andy Morrell's confidence has gone as he wasted a glorious opportunity to put Wrexham ahead in the first half when he was clean through on the keeper. Lee Jones did nothing special for me whist he was on and Lee Trundle offered us something different when he finally made an appearance as a substitute.

There were some plus with Paul Whitfield impressive again and remarkably Wrexham are still only three points off the final automatic promotion place despite not winning for in the league for over a month. It this is our bad patch, which all teams go through, then at least we are still in contention. The alarming thing from today was that we again looked inept in breaking down a well-organised defence and this will have to be addressed for the two away games against York and Southend. Otherwise, Wrexham will slip further away from the promotion race into mid-table obscurity.

Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

Detailed Match Reports
BBCi: Wrexham 0 Lincoln City 2 - Minute-by-minute
Lincoln City FC: Wrexham 0 Lincoln City 2
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 0 Lincoln City 2
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

Other Match Reports
Ananova: Lincoln out-muscle Wrexham
BBCi: Wrexham 0 Lincoln City 2
Nationwide Football: Wrexham 0, Lincoln City 2
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

audio Audio Reports and Quotes audio
Keith Alexander: "We were excellent from start to finish" (RealPlayer format)
Lee Jones: "We've really got no excuses at the moment" (RealPlayer format)
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

Press Conference Quotes
Denis Smith: "To have as much of the ball as we did and not score, then you should at least end up with a 0-0 draw. It was disappointing to have so much possession and not create many chances, then not look like putting away those chances we did get. But in the end we also have to defend when attacking and they’ve just knocked two balls forward and got in twice. They were defensive errors and bad ones. It was basic stuff and I’ll have to look at the other defenders that I have available and see what I can do. We have worked on things, but if you don’t defend when attacking then you will get yourselves into trouble. Today we have got caught twice when attacking and not doing the right thing defensively. You are going to get games where you have a lot of possession but you don’t score, then I expect to get a 0-0 draw. The longer it went 0-0, then we should have kept it tight and possibly we could have got a scrambled goal to win 1-0. But once they had gone in front, it gave them more to hang onto. We are a team and if we lose, then it’s down to the defenders as well as the attackers. We should be up towards the top of the league by now, but we aren’t. There is a lot of hard work to be done. There were aspects of the performance that I thought were good. Darren Ferguson did well for me, Carlos started well but his final ball was not up to it, and what Paul Whitfield had to do, he did well. But in the end, if you win then you have good performances, but when you lose everyone is a plonker! [Source: Wrexham FC]
Keith Alexander: "I thought we were excellent from start to finish. They caused us a few problems first half because our midfield players were getting the wrong side of their midfield players but we sorted that out at half-time and I didn't think we had a problem second half. Defensively we were sound and we got back to what we were doing the first six or seven weeks of the season. Ben Futcher, Simon Weaver and Paul Morgan were excellent and Alan Marriott caught everything that was thrown at him. I was pleased with all aspects of the game. They tried to pass it across the back and it gave us a chance if we could get the ball forward earlier. Cropps (Dene Cropper) got hold of his chance and it was an excellent finish. He's coming on. He's only nineteen, he's a decent player and he will get better. People can keep slagging us off but we're a decent side. We're solid at the back, decent in midfield and we've got players in the squad who can score so we're always going to have a chance." [Source: Lincoln City FC]
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.

 

 

Division Three
Results

Boston United

S Weatherstone 20'

Battersby 64'

Douglas 90'

3-1

Rochdale

Flitcroft 81'

2,653

 

Bournemouth

Fletcher 78'

1-0

York City

5.755

 

Bristol Rovers

Coote 54'

1-2

Leyton Orient

Campbell-Ryce 57'

Nugent 67'

6,625

 

Bury

Preece 12'

Swailes 84'

2-1

Macclesfield Town

Lightbourne 52'

3,506

 

Carlisle United

Magennis 3'

Farrell 46' (p)

2-2

Swansea City

Thomas 8' 65'

3,940

 

Exeter City

0-4

Darlington

Liddle 35'

Clarke 42'

Conlon 68'

Nicholls 90'

2,757

 

Hull City

Green 1'

1-1

Rushden & Diamonds

Gray 28'

10,659

 

Kidderminster Harriers

Melligan 4' 27'

2-1

Cambridge United

Kitson 8'

2,779

 

Oxford United

Scott 7'

Lousi 16'

2-2

Shrewsbury Town

Woan 21'

Drysdale 27'

5,559

 

Scunthorpe United

Carruthers 39'

Torpey 45' 82' 90'

McCombe 74'

5-1

Torquay United

Graham 30'

2,911

 

Southend United

0-1

Hartlepool United

Williams 1'

5,168

Friday

Wrexham

0-2

Lincoln City

Cropper 48'

Smith 77'

3,312

 

League Table

 
Pos Team                   P  W  D  L   F   A   GD Pts
------------------------------------------------------
 1  Hartlepool United     15  9  3  3  26  16   10  30
 2  AFC Bournemouth       15  7  6  2  22  15    7  27
 3  Kidderminster         15  6  7  2  18  15    3  25
------------------------------------------------------
 4  Rushden and Diamonds  15  6  6  3  24  17    7  24
 5  Lincoln City          15  7  3  5  17  13    4  24
 6  Torquay United        15  7  3  5  23  28   -5  24
 7  Scunthorpe United     15  6  5  4  23  19    4  23
------------------------------------------------------
 8  Oxford United         15  6  5  4  16  13    3  23
 9  Bury                  15  6  5  4  24  23    1  23
10  Rochdale              15  6  4  5  23  22    1  22
11  Southend United       15  7  1  7  16  18   -2  22
12  Cambridge United      15  6  3  6  28  23    5  21
13  Wrexham               15  5  6  4  25  21    4  21
14  York City             15  6  3  6  17  18   -1  21
15  Hull City             15  4  7  4  22  18    4  19
16  Bristol Rovers        15  4  5  6  23  21    2  17
17  Darlington            15  4  5  6  21  21    0  17
18  Macclesfield Town     15  5  2  8  20  22   -2  17
19  Leyton Orient         15  4  5  6  14  16   -2  17
20  Shrewsbury Town       15  4  4  7  23  28   -5  16
 21  Boston United         15  5  4  6  19  24   -5  15*
22  Swansea City          15  2  6  7  17  25   -8  12
------------------------------------------------------
23  Exeter City           15  3  3  9  14  25  -11  12
24  Carlisle United       15  3  3  9  15  29  -14  12
*Boston deducted four points
Match Stats; Match Report; Detailed Match Reports; Other Match Reports; Audio Reports & Quotes; Press Conference Quotes; Division Three; League Table.