Score and Scorers

Starting Line Ups

Substitutes

Yellow and Red Cards

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Stat Attack

Match Notes

By Alun Thomas

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS? Our best start to a season for sixteen years! Eight goals all told in our two games so far, eleven in Brentford's. A goalless stalemate, then...

CONDITIONS? Drinking weather, really - hot, humid, some cloud. Pitch in good early season fettle.

TACTICS? Looked like 4-3-1-2 to me, with Ferguson in his new forward role in front of the three new boys, Holt, Williams and Smith.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN TWO SENTENCES? On the face of it, an uninspiring game with chances at an absolute premium. Yet it's difficult to think of a Wrexham player who had a bad game (except Llewellyn, of which more later) ; the fact that both sides cancelled each other out so effectively was actually to their respective credits.

TURNING POINT? Obviously the goal. Not many teams, at any level, recover from an 84th minute opener, and we are no exception.

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS?

0-45 mins : It's difficult to break the first half down into three sections because so little of note happened. The early stages basically saw both sides warily sounding each other out - a couple of smart-but-routine saves for Dibble and some promising build-ups which didn't come to anything due to a poor final pass or a smart intervention. Wrexham looked reasonably comfortable but you couldn't see any real incisiveness from either side. Twice, however, slick four-man moves played Llewellyn in on goal and each time his first touch would have shamed a pub player. I know he's got a lot of critics, and I know he runs hard and long, but today he didn't deliver again and his "automatic" starting place must surely now be in jeopardy. In fact the only dangerous ball he played was back behind our defence and only a combination of bad bounce and the ever-reliable Carey saved the day.

45-60 mins : At least we saw off Salako, a possible threat - he was substituted after 50 minutes, and ten minutes later Llewellyn was replaced by Armstrong. Immediately we looked more formidable, Sam cutting in only to screw his shot horribly wide.

60-75 mins : This is my first game of the season and I have to say I'm impressed by Williams, Smith and Holt. We miss Carlos, though - that goes without saying. Armstrong's flick and a defender's error let in Sam with only the keeper to beat..........let's just say that only Hector could have missed it. A Bees fan I fell into conversation with on the Tube couldn't believe it either - he thought it was going to be the winner.

75-90 mins : Goalless draw, seven points from nine, we'll take that. But suddenly we had one of those spells where we remember that we're traditionally a footballing side, didn't clear our lines, got into trouble and from the resulting clearance header the home side's O'Connor hit a sweet volley high into the net. Even then we might have saved a point, Ferguson's pinpoint corner being met by Lawrence's head only for a defender to head off the line.

OPPOSITION AND FANS? Brentford are West London's answer to North Wales - no money, few resources and the future of their ground is in doubt. Their fans are as passionate as ours, though - let's hope we meet again next year.

OFFICIALS?  Sound, sensible refereeing - and no cards.

MAN OF THE MATCH? I'd say Steve Roberts. Happily clear now of injury, he's developing into a defender who reminds me, at least, of a young Colin Todd. On this form it can't be too long before recognition, either from Wales or in the form of a bid from above, comes a-calling. Carey and Whitley weren't far behind.

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH? I wouldn't be too disheartened. Of course defeat is hard to take, but we didn't do too much wrong today and six points from nine is, after all, promotion form................I'd be starting in future with Sam and Armstrong up front, though.

POST-MATCH THOUGHTS? Well, I dunno. I'd just got used to Division Three being Division Two and here we are in League One. Fitness, tactics and ability-wise, we looked OK today - I think confidence will be the key this term. The next half-a-dozen games will be crucial.

Jump To: Match Stats, Match Report, Detailed Match Reports, Other Match Reports, Audio Reports and Quotes, Press Conference Quotes, League 1 Results, League Table.

Denis Smith: "On Tuesday night Hector was on fire and scored a great hat-trick, today he also had chances but couldn't find the net - that's football. We didn't feel that we were under any severe pressure, they put some balls in but with the three centre-backs that we have I was confident. Dibble really didn't have a lot to do especially in the first-half. I don't like getting beat especially with the way that we played today. That ball in from Alex Smith before half-time was probably the pass of the season, Chris (Llewellyn) usually has a better touch and it would have been nice to have gone in 1-0 up. I wasn't very nice to them at the break but I had a few kinder words at full-time as I thought that we performed better in the second-half. We didn't create enough for my liking. It was warm out there, we had a long journey and maybe I should have used a few more substitutes considering we had had two hard games during the week." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

Results

Barnsley

Boulding 2' 90'

3-4

Luton Town

Howard 4'

Vine 44'

Brkovic 45'

Robinson 66'

10,057

Blackpool

0-4

Stockport County

Jackman 10'

Feeney 31'

Beckett 50' 64'

6,334

Bournemouth

C Fletcher 38'

Hayter 88'

2-2

Bristol City

Lita 77'

Smith 90'

6,918

Bradford City

Bower 8'

Crooks 45'

2-0

Doncaster Rovers

Rigoglioso sent off 90'

10,444

Brentford

O'Connor 85'

1-0

Wrexham

5,091

Colchester United

Andrews 58' (p)

Ireland 64' (og)

2-1

Peterborough United

3,754

Huddersfield Town

v

Hartlepool United

20:00

MON

Oldham Athletic

Eyres 42' 53'

Holden 54'

Jack 54'

Griffin 90'

5-3

Walsall

Fryatt 29' 78' (p)

Taylor 34'

5,654

Port Vale

Collins 36'

Brooker 51' 90'

3-2

Hull City

Barmby 14'

Elliott 90'

6,736

Swindon Town

Parkin 23'

Howard 63'

2-1

Milton Keynes Dons

Smart 42'

5,060

Torquay United

Kuffour 44'

Gritton 60'

2-4

Sheffield Wednesday

Maclean 9' (p)

Lee 51'

Peacock 74'

Heckingbottom 80'

5,005

Tranmere Rovers

Dadi 42'

1-0

Chesterfield

8,287