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DESERVED WIN FOR WREXHAM

By Mark Williams

Pre-match thoughts: With a week off next week a win was imperative unless we would slip down the table and you would get the usual moaners saying ‘look where Wrexham are now’

Conditions: Bad weather has arrived ... the proper start of the football season. Sunny one minute, wind brought in the rain and at one point we had most conditions bar snow!

Sum up the performance in one sentence: Commanding team display that created sufficient chances to win by a greater margin.

Turning point: Hector Sam went off injured and youngster Mark Jones came on and his superb dummy led to the penalty.

Main incidents and goals:

0-15 minutes: Rapid start by Wrexham but the Red Dragons were stopped in their tracks when Andy Dibble went off after 8 minutes to be replaced by Paul Whitfield. Players were finding it difficult on the wet pitch but Jim Whitley was in command. Best chance fell to Hector Sam when picking the ball up in the box and after he took advantage of the slip by Pilkington, Sam was unlucky to see his shot saved by the feet of Delaney. Sam had an earlier chance when the ball was swung in from the left but he completely missed the ball when attempting a first time volley! Score 0-0

15-30 minutes: Port Vale took the lead after 22 minutes against the run of play in what turned out to be their only shot on target. Awful defending from Wrexham when a corner from the left was swung in and Billy Paynter had a free header from which he planted the ball past Whitfield. Carlos Edwards struck a rasping shot from 30 yards that Delaney took twoo attempts to gather. If the shot wasn’t straight at the keeper it would have been a certain goal. Score 0-1

good all round performance from everyone who put a red shirt on.

Chunky Tom on the RP Messagebaord

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30-45 minutes: Darren Ferguson was pulling the strings in midfield and his initial pass led to Wrexham’s deserved equaliser. Fergie’s ball over the top was perfect for Sam to latch on and after the Trinidadian held the ball up in the box he squared it to Lee Jones who placed the ball past Delaney for the equaliser in the 33rd minute. Wrexham kept the pressure on and Sam fired in a 25 yard effort just wide. A few minutes later Chris Lewellyn did well down the left and his cross somehow went across the face of goal without Lee Jones and Hector Sam getting the vital touch. As the half ended Darren Ferguson’s was unlucky when his 30 yard free kick thumped the cross bar and Vale scrambled the ball clear. Moments later Ferguson’s slide rule pass was latched onto by Lee Jones but Delaney was alert and he rushed off the line to tackle Jones 30 yards out. Half Time 1-1.

45-60 minutes: First chance of the second half fell to the visitors when Paynter skipped past three defenders but his left footed shot did not have enough curl on the ball and his shot went narrowly wide. Not much happened although Sam’s pace and running was causing problems for Vale’s defence. Score 1-1.

60-75 minutes: Vale were coming into the game but after Llewellyn disposed Andreas Lipa on the half way line his bursting run into Vale’s half set Lee Jones free down the right and his cross to the far post was just ahead of Sam at the far post for him to turn it in. Sam recovered and his cross to the near post was turned just wide by Llewellyn. Wrexham lost their second player to injury in the 72nd minute when Hector Sam limped off to be replaced by youngster Mark Jones. At the same time Lee Jones laid flat out on the side of the pitch after a heavy challenge from Broker. Port Vale struck back immediately as the game was now end to end. A deep cross from the right to the far post was headed onto the top of the bar by Paynter. Score 1-1.

75-90 minutes: With 12 minutes of the match left the turning point of the match came. Llewellyn, who was having joy at picking up the ball deep, and his interplay with Mark Jones led to the penalty. Mark Jones did well for the return ball from Llewellyn when his turn sent three Port Vale defenders the wrong way before he was brought down by Boyd in the box. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and Boyd was lucky not to see red as it was a goal scoring opportunity for the youngster. Lee Jones put the ball on the spot and his right footed shot had too much power for Delaney who got his fingers on the ball after diving the right way. There were nervous moments for Wrexham as the visitors searched for an equaliser. Paul Edwards was caught out of position and Cummins got in front of him to head the ball back across goal to Stephen McPhee. The striker picked his spot and headed the ball past Whitfield but the linesman correctly flagged him offside and stopped the visitor's celebrations. Wrexham played out the injury time with no problems and deservedly ran out winners. Final score: 2-1.

Opposition and fans: Plenty of fans and all in good voice. Looked as if a few were chucked out when the second went in. Cannot believe Port Vale were top of the league as they are arguably the worse team who have visited the Racecourse this season.

Officials: I thought he had a good came but the opposition will disagree. He let the minor things go and this added to the flow of the game. Players should be credited as there were no bad challenges but the tackling was hard and fair. Never noticed either that the referee was replaced after 16 minutes.

Man of the match: Sponsors gave it to Chris Llewellyn but I would have opted for Lee Jones. All players had a good game with Fergie controlling the midfield.

If you were Denis Smith: Very happy with a good display ahead of the international break. Only disappointment would be the lack or marking for their goal. Happy with the style of play and the opportunities Wrexham created.

Post match thoughts: Made a team who were top of the table at the start of play look very average and it looks encouraging being only three points of fifth spot with a game in hand.

Jump To: Match Stats, Match Reports, Detailed Match Reports, Other Match Reports, Audio Reports and Quotes, Press Conference Quotes, Division 2 Results, League Table.

BBCi: Wrexham 2 Port Vale 1 - Minute-by-minute

Ananova: FT- Wrexham 2 Port Vale 1

Red Passion Soccer Saturday Audio Report with Mark Williams

Denis Smith: "We have a good 7-8 days when winning at Tranmere, playing well at Hartlepool particularly in the second half and not getting the result we possibly deserved, and then today in the first half we were very much the better side. Indeed the game could have been over before they scored, but the second half they made more of a game of it. It’s been a little bit tense and a little bit tight – we got that second a goal and had to hang on a bit. We deserved the win and I don’t think anyone can deny us that. I have been saying all along that we are more than capable of competing in this league. We went for it today, as I played two wingers and three up front. So no one can say we didn’t try to win this game, as I thought at times we gave them major problems with their man marker in midfield having to go on Chris Llewellyn and all at once Darren Ferguson had space to pick them off. It was an all round very good performance! For those of your who were at the Fans Forum on Thursday night, I said that Mark Jones did this thing of turning players without touching the ball and he did that again today for the penalty. But we got performances from players all round, I mean Hector finally produced in the game what he does in training. I told him before I want to see him smiling at the end of 90 minutes and he did the job. "Carlos wasn’t as dead as some people told me he was and he contributed. Before the game I told the players that this result might have a bearing on where we will finish in the league. Would it be the top half or the top six, and I hope I’m right in that assumption. We needed this win as we will miss next week and then be two games behind everyone else, meaning some supporters would have been tipping us for promotion had we lost and slipped down a few places! I keep saying it, but no one has turned us over this season – big pressure local derby game last week, we won – today we faced the top of the table and won again!" [Source: Wrexham AFC]

Results

Barnsley

Betsy 32'

Gorre 57'

2-0

Rushden & Diamonds

6,342

Bournemouth

Holmes 79'

Feeney 81'

2-2

Hartlepool United

Tinkler 10'

Strachan 90'

8,461

Brentford

0-3

Sheffield Wednesday

Holt 39' 45'

Owusu 75'

8,631

Brighton & Hove Albion

Coid 2' (og)

McPhee 38' 73'

3-0

Blackpool

6,483

Bristol City

Peacock 52'

Brown 74'

2-1

Swindon Town

14,294

Grimsby Town

0-1

Queens Park Rangers

Sabin 90'

5,447

Luton Town

v

Tranmere Rovers

20:00

MON

Notts County

Heffernan 23' 86'

Riley 76'

3-0

Colchester United

4,187

Peterborough United

McKenzie 21' 50'

2-2

Oldham Athletic

Cooksey 8'

J Sheridan 57' (p)

Killen Sent Off 90'

4,465

Stockport County

0-0

Chesterfield

Blatherwick Sent Off 90'

4,764

Wrexham

L Jones 33' 79' (p)

2-1

Port Vale

Paynter 20'

5,822

Wycombe Wanderers

0-0

Plymouth Argyle

5,708

League Table