Wrexham v Bury

Saturday 28 September 2002

Kick Off 3:00pm

Match Stats

Score and Scorers

Wrexham

2

Bury

2

Andy Morrell

22' 25' (p)

Jon Newby

31' 59'

Starting Line Ups

Wrexham

Bury

 01

Andy Dibble

01 

Glynn Garner

04

Steve Roberts

06

Lee Unsworth

15

Dan Bennett

04

Danny Swailes 80'

18

Shaun Pejic

05

Michael Nelson

02

Jim Whitley

07

Chris Billy

10

Darren Ferguson

27

Terry Dunfield

12

Paul Barrett

08

Martyn Forest 58'

07

Carlos Edwards

02

Matthew Barrass

14

Paul Edwards 46'

28

Colin Woodthorpe

11

Andy Morrell 87'

25

Pawel Abbott

23

Hector Sam 76'

29

Jon Newby

Substitutes

Wrexham

Bury

 03

Shaun Holmes 46'

 09

 Gareth Seddon 80'

06

Dennis Lawrence

11

Andy Preece

09

Lee Trundle 87'

14

Paul O'Shaughnessy

19

Steve Thomas 76'

16

George Clegg 58'

21

Paul Whitfield (GK)

20

 Nicky Hill

Yellow and Red Cards

Wrexham

Bury

44'

Carlos Edwards - Violent Conduct

32'

Terry Dunfield - Foul

 

 

36'

Colin Woofthorpe - Foul

 

 

38'

Pawel Abbott - Dissent

 

 

65'

Chris Billy - Foul

Other Info

Venue:

Racecourse Ground

Half Time:

2-1

Attendance:

3,941

Referee:

Mark Cowburn - Lancashire

 

 

Match Reports

WREXHAM HIT SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON

By Mark Williams

 

It was certainly an enthralling game at The Racecourse with both teams disappointed not to go away with all three points - but for different reasons. Wrexham were 2-0 up, courtesy of a brace from Andy Morrell, and let the lead slip but Bury played the second half against ten men after Carlos Edwards had been sent off for violent conduct a minute before half time.

The first ten minutes of the match were evenly shared with both teams finding each other out. Bury's twin strike force of Jon Newby and Pawel Abbott were combining well up front with Newby a menace all afternoon with his runs down the channel. If he learned the offside rule he would surely be playing at a higher level than division three. Andy Morrell had the first shot of the game after a minute from 25 yards out but his effort failed to trouble Parkes. Last season he would not have even attempted the shot and instead opted to pass but his confidence is so high at the moment he must fancy his chances to score from any angle.

 

Wrexham

Match Stats

Bury

7

Shots On Target

5
3 Shots Off Target 3
11 Fouls Conceded 12
6 Corners 4
0 Yellow Cards 4
1 Red Cards 0

Wrexham's first clear chance came when Carlos Edwards was fed in down the right side of the area but chose the wrong option in striking straight at the legs of Glynn Parkes when a knock back would have found Hector Sam free in the box with a free shot at goal from ten yards. Five minutes later Andy Morrell had opened the scoring with a stunning strike from the edge of the area. Darren Ferguson, who had his best game for a long while - accurate passing, tackling, even running after lost causes and not even a booking in sight! - played in Hector Sam down the left and his pass was collected by Morrell on the edge of the area. He spun Danny Swailes and struck a left footed shot that was so well placed into the far corner that it gave Garner no chance.

Three minutes later in the twenty-fifth minute it was 2-0 after Hector Sam was fouled in the box. Sam's pace exposed Michael Nelson who could only foul the striker after he got past him and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. After a short delay as Steve Roberts got a talking to by the ref, Morrell stepped up to send Garner the wrong way from the spot for his thirteenth goal of the season.

With the pairing up front Bury were always a danger to the Wrexham defence and both players combined five minutes later to reduce the deficit to one. Pawel Abbott did tremendously down Bury's left, and aided by a slip by Steve Roberts, had a clear run into the penalty area and coolly spotted his strike partner coming in ten yards out and Newby side footed the ball into the bottom corner.

Three Bury players were booked for fouls in the preceding ten minutes but a minute before half time Carlos Edwards was uncharacteristically sent off for violent conduct after a reacting to a tackle on him by Colin Woodthorpe. Both players got up after the tackle and after exchanging some words Edwards stuck his hand into the face of Woodthorpe, who was booked ten minutes earlier for a late foul on Edwards, and referee Mark Cowburn had no hesitation in showing Edwards the red card. My immediate reaction from The Kop was that Edwards was going off and none of the Wrexham players complained as Edwards became the fourth Wrexham player to be sent off by Cowburn in the last three games.

Denis Smith reorganised the side at half time with the more defensive minded Shaun Holmes replacing Paul Edwards as left wing back. Jim Whitley moved out to cover the vacant position on the right but had a poor second half and this will cause Smith concern when Edwards serves a three-match ban. Smith kept the attacking options with Morrell and Sam up front and it was ten man Wrexham who started the second half brighter.

Morrell was unlucky not to complete his hat trick when he met Darren Ferguson's free kick at the back post and his side footed volley struck the far post and Bury cleared the danger away for a corner. Morrell's next attempt on the other side of the area just curled over the top of the bar with Garner just a bystander in the Bury goal.

Wrexham were in control and the fashion on Bury's equaliser was very disappointing. Wrexham were in possession down the right but the Bury midfield forced Barrett to turn and head back towards his own goal. Under some pressure he inexplicitly underhit his back pass that Jon Newby latched onto. After rounding Andy Dibble the youngster kept his composure to place the ball past Steve Roberts, who had tracked back, into the bottom corner whilst under pressure from a last ditched challenge from Dibble. Dibble required treatment after this tackle and on some occasions Steve Roberts had to take goal kicks late on in the game.

Wrexham continued to play football without fear of their one-man disadvantage and Hector Sam collected a long searching ball from Shaun Pejic and advanced into the penalty area with a jinking run. After fending off the presence of four Bury defenders he laid the ball back for Paul Barrett but his shot from the edge of the area lacked any purchase to trouble Garner who comfortably held onto the ball with Morrell in close attendance.

Both teams pushed for the win with Bury sacrificing defender Danny Swailes for returning striker Gareth Seddon and Wrexham strengthened the midfield with Steve Thomas replacing Hector Sam who ran all afternoon for Wrexham's cause.

Jon Newby had a glorious opportunity to complete his hat-trick after being put clean through with ten minutes left but with only the injured Andy Dibble to beat he this time lacked any composure as the Wrexham keeper blocked Newby's shot for Dan Bennett to clear the danger.

Barrett had a perfect opportunity to atone for his earlier mistake after good play by Darren Ferguson sent him in down the right but, in all honestly, never looked like he was going to score and in the end decided to blast the ball that struck the legs of Garner and rebounded to safety. If only the chance fell to Morrell! Morrell, who looked shattered in the final stages, was replaced by Lee Trundle with three minutes left and came off to a rapturous applause from the Wrexham faithful.

The last chance of the game fell to Bury when Gareth Seddon skipped past Holmes down the right and when we were all expecting a cross he lashed in a rasping right footed shot that Dibble could not hold onto but thankfully substitute George Clegg fired the rebound over the bar.

The game ended 2-2 but the effort that Wrexham showed in the second half whilst down to ten men was superb with captain Darren Ferguson inspirational in the centre of midfield. The turning point was Carlos' sending off when he lost his head at the end of the first half but under the circumstances a point was a good result against a Bury side who looked impressive going forward and will be contesting for promotion come the end of the season.

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Detailed Match Reports
BBCi: Wrexham 2 Bury 2 - Minute-by-minute
Bury FC: Wrexham 2 Bury 2 - Match Pictures
Bury FC: Wrexham 2 Bury 2 - Match Report
Bury FC: Wrexham 2 Bury 2 - Match Updates
Sporting Life: Wrexham 2 Bury 2 - Match Stats
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 2 Bury 2
Y3K Shakers: Wrexham 2 Shakers 2 - Honours Even in Thriller
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Other Match Reports
Ananova: Wrexham cling on for a draw
BBCi: Wrexham 2-2 Bury
IC Wales: Wrexham held by Bury
Nationwide Football: Wrexham 2, Bury 2
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Press Conference Quotes
Denis Smith: "I thought it was an entertaining game and one we deserved to win. We would have won but for the intervention of one certain official. Carlos has pushed the lad, but why? He has already been maimed twice and got kicked again. He shouldn’t have reacted, but then again the other lad should also have gone, leaving it ten against ten. Ten against eleven we did more than well, but ten against ten we would have been more than comfortable. Alright their equaliser was a bad mistake. But people do make mistakes when they have been told to keep the ball moving, perhaps it shouldn’t have gone backwards, but people who don’t make mistakes have never done anything. The attitude and work rate of the team was smashing. Andy Morrell was very unlucky not to get a hat-trick with the one that has come off the inside of the post, Paul Barrett has gone through at the end and there has been some great football that we have played. We could have won. I’m disappointed that I’m going to lose Carlos for three games for violent conduct and he’s the least violent person I have met in my life. Bury are probably the best side we have played this season. Their movement and passing was good, but I still think we should have won. Had it finished 2-2 with eleven on both sides, then I probably wouldn’t have been as disappointed as I feel now!" [Source: Wrexham FC - for more click here]
Andy Preece: “I’m pleased with the performance, but disappointed with the result. We didn’t start the game right and I felt that we weren’t right at the back, we weren’t tight enough. We had warned them about their forwards and that we had to get in close to their forwards and not give them the chance to turn, and unfortunately we didn’t do that and found ourselves 2-0 down. We always looked like scoring, I was always confident that we would score. We had the measure of their back three and I thought we could have scored at any point during the game. We were 2-0 down and to come off with it finishing 2-2, you would probably think I would be happy, but we should have taken the three points today. If we kept it tight we could have won the game comfortably. We had the beating of them, but if you don’t defend properly, which we haven’t done enough this season, and then it’s going to cost us points. Morrell’s finish for the first goal was top draw stuff. He is a player full of confidence and it was an excellent finish. He looked lively all day. Hector Sam did well for them, as well. There were two good forward lines to be fair and I am sure that both sides will be getting lots of goals between them. I didn’t see the sending off offence so I can’t comment on it. If I had seen it I would have told you what I thought. I didn’t think we had to change anything at half time. I thought we had just got to keep moving the ball like we did in the first half. I felt that we didn’t move the ball quickly enough in he second half, but we opened them up enough and created enough chances to have won the game. We left ourselves a little bit open on the counter but when you are chasing three points that can happen. Once we got it back to two each, I thought they wilted a little bit and they seemed to be there for the taking but we let them in with a couple of opportunities which kept them going. We have got to be more ruthless." [Source: Bury FC - for more click here]
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Division Three
Results

Boston United

Weatherstone 43'

Warburton Sent Off 87'

1-3

Cambridge United

Kitson 2' 90'

Redfearn 24' (og)

 3,090

 

Bournemouth

Tindall 62'

Connell 77' (p)

Stock 86'

3-1

Carlisle United

Murphy 90' (p)

 5,103

 

Bristol Rovers

Tait 74'

1-2

Kidderminster Harriers

Melligan 27'

Henriksen 75'

9,447

 

Hartlepool United

Boyd 31'

1-2

Rushden & Diamonds

Peters 48'

Hall 84'

5,502

 

Hull City

Jevons 27'

1-1

Swansea City

Thomas 52'

8,070

 

Leyton Orient

Hutchings 60'

Nugent 73'

2-1

Darlington

Conlon 45'

3,975

 

Rochdale

Connor 21' 65'

Platt 81'

3-1

Macclesfield Town

Welsh 34'

3,090

 

Scunthorpe United

Sparrow 53'

1-1

Shrewsbury Town

Rodgers 19'

2,988

 

Southend United

Jones 43'

1-0

Exeter City

3,364

 

Torquay United

Bedeau Sent Off 19'

0-0

Lincoln City

4,428

 

Wrexham

Morrell 22' 25' (p)

Edwards Sent Off 44'

2-2

Bury

Newby 31' 59'

3,941

 

York City

0-1

Oxford United

Gordon 61'

3,962

 

League Table

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