Darlington 1

Andrew Cooke 92'

Wrexham 1

Danny Williams 31'

Saturday 06 May 2006

 

Kick Off @ 15:00

Match Report
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: With nothing to play for, except pride, we should at least be setting the tone for next season.

CONDITIONS: Cloudy, dry, warm and a dodgy surface.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: Looked in control through out but the old frailties returned in injury time.

TURNING POINT: 92nd minute equaliser – no time to reply.

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:

Wrexham started the game with a new look of 4-4-2 with Darren Ferguson on the bench. This meant Matty Done featured on the left flank but in honest he did not receive much of the ball to make an impact and the majority of Wrexham’s attacks came down the right wing, where Dean Bennett at last made a decent contribution.

Darlington, who still had a slim outside chance of a play off spot, made a poor start to the game and the offerings from Wrexham was not much better with a Matty Done effort clearing the cross bar the only shot on goal in the opening exchanges.

The first half hour resembled a game where both teams had noting to play for and with little efforts on target, both keepers enjoyed an easy opening to the game. The only chance for the home team was when Carlos Logan got the better of Lee Roche down the Wrexham right but his over hit cross came to nothing.

Danny WilliamsDespite this drab opening, a goal on the half hour mark was in complete contrast to the proceeding thirty minutes. Wrexham broke well down the right wing with Jon Walters getting the better of his marker on the touch line. The ball was well worked inside via Dean Bennett and Danny Williams thumped the ball almost through keeper Sam Russell from 25 yards. It would have been a contender for the first RP Goal of the Season but it came too late in the day to be counted this season and anyway, it was not as good as Mark Jones’ strike at Oxford!

Wrexham were buoyant after the goal and honestly it was difficult to understand that Darlington had an outside chance of a play off spot, where as Wrexham had blown their opportunity weeks a go.

Darlington had opportunities towards the end of the first half but their finishing was woeful at best and with no changes at half time, Wrexham had opportunities to build on their one goal advantage, although they did have a nervous opening to the second half.

Darlington were awarded a free kick following a foul by Mike Williams that Logan curled in but he was unlucky to see his effort rebound off Ingham’s far post with the Wrexham keeper routed to the spot. From the rebound, Gut Bates collected the ball on the left flank and cut into the box. With the Wrexham defence standing off Bates, he cracked in a right footed shot that Ingham expertly tipped over the bar for a corner.

Danny Williams cracked in another effort from the edge of the area that this time ended high in the away end and Matt Derbyshire and Dean Bennett had similar opportunities after they found themselves in space down the right side if the area. Each time when either player was worked in, they dragged their efforts narrowly wide of the far post with no attacker coming in at the back post for the crucial second goal that would have put Wrexham out of sight.

Darlington replied with former Wrexham winger Neil Wainwright threatening down the right and Simon Johnson curled another effort over after cutting in down the left but despite this pressure, Wrexham looked confident in defence.

Wrexham had opportunities towards the end of the game, most noticeably when Matty Done cut in from the left wing only to see his well struck shot tipped around the near post by Sam Russell. Darren Ferguson was introduced for Done in the last ten minutes, as Wrexham reverted back to 3-5-2, and he had an opportunity when he was picked out by a right wing cross but was unable to steer his left footed shot on target.

With the game entering injury time, Wrexham conceded an unlikely equaliser that summed our whole season up and it was no surprise that it came from an uncontested set play. A corner was delivered into the box in the second minute of injury time that was headed down for Andy Cooke to smash in the equaliser from close range.

This sparked a three minute pitch invasion and when the home children retreated back to the stands, it only required one further play before referee Kevin Friend brought the game and the season to an end.

OPPOSITION: On this showing they were not good enough for the play offs and it s frustrating that they had an outside chance of making it and we didn’t.

OFFICIALS: Did OK with no controversial incidents but he made a run for it when he blew for full time!

MAN OF THE MATCH: Danny Williams is proving Mr Versatile with a solid performance this time in midfield and the goal was a superb strike.

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: 4-4-2 next season.

Match Reaction

Denis Smith: "We have had enough chances in the second half to have killed the game off and shouldn't have had to settle for a point. Pleasing though, very pleasing, the way we adapted to the new formation. Though it has been our inability to keep clean sheets and to kill teams off, which has haunted us all season. But there were a lot of bright points and on a pitch which was shocking, Matty Done has tried to play he wanted to do, by running with the ball. Mike Williams has been great and his brother has come on at the end, which meant we finished with three YT lads and six in the squad, which is good for the future of the club." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

 

Dave Hodgson: "I didn't want to finish on a loss in the last game. I lost my temper at half time, as the purpose today was to score goals, get crosses in and basically we did neither. We had players rolling the ball slowly to each other, taking short corners and I was far from happy with that. Sometimes players have to think for themselves and there are times when our lads just don't seem to be able to do that. There is no point me working Monday to Friday and then them not applying themselves properly. It was important not to lose today, but I would far rather of had the three points." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

Darlington

Starting XI:

23 Sam Russell
02 Ryan Valentine
12 Shelton Martis
14 David McGurk
17 David Duke
11 Simon Johnson
16 Clark Keltie
10 Jonjo Dickman 63'
25 Carlos Logan 63'
09 Gut Bates 63'
20 Akpo Sodje

Subs:

01 Nathan Wright (GK)
07 Neil Wainwright 63'
15 Andrew Cooke 63'
22 Neil Maddison
28 Mark McLeod 63'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 15
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 11
Possession: 53%
Fouls Conceded: 5
Corners: 3
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
15 Lee Roche
18 Shaun Pejic
25 Mike Williams
07 Andy Holt
12 Dean Bennett
08 Danny Williams
16 Matt Crowell
22 Matt Done 82'
09 Jon Walters 87'
14 Matt Derbyshire

Subs:

10 Darren Ferguson 82'
13 Michael Jones (GK)
20 Simon Spender
21 Marc Williams 87'
23 Gareth Evans

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 11
Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 8
Possession: 47%
Fouls Conceded: 14
Corners: 4
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes
Venue TFM Darlington Arena
Attendance 4,648
Half Time Darlington Wrexham
Referee Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

Other Match Reports

BBC: Darlington 1-1 Wrexham

Darlington FC: Quakers play out last point with Wrexham

Wales on Sunday: Wonder strike is not enough

Wrexham AFC: Darlington 1 Wrexham 1

League 2 Results

Bristol Rovers 2 Macclesfield 3
Chester 0 Shrewsbury 1
Darlington 1 Wrexham 1
Grimsby 1 Northampton 1
Lincoln City 1 Rochdale 1
Mansfield 0 Cheltenham 5
Notts County 2 Bury 2
Oxford United 2 Leyton Orient 3
Peterborough 0 Wycombe 2
Rushden & Diamonds 1 Barnet 2
Stockport 0 Carlisle 0
Torquay 0 Boston United 0

Final League 2 Table
Pos Team Pld GD Pts
4 Grimsby Town 46 20 78
5 Cheltenham Town 46 12 72
6 Wycombe Wanderers 46 16 71
7 Lincoln City 46 12 66
8 Darlington 46 6 63
9 Peterborough United 46 8 62
10 Shrewsbury Town 46 0 61
11 Boston United 46 -10 61
12 Bristol Rovers 46 -8 60
13 Wrexham 46 7 59
14 Rochdale 46 -3 56
15 Chester City 46 -6 54
16 Mansfield Town 46 -7 54
17 Macclesfield Town 46 -11 54
18 Barnet 46 -13 54
19 Bury 46 -12 53
20 Torquay United 46 -13 52
21 Notts County 46 -15 52
22 Stockport County 46 -21 52
23 Oxford United 46 -14 49
24 Rushden and Diamonds 46 -32 45

Next Game

None - this was the last game of the season