Wrexham 1

Robbie Foy 90'

Notts County 1

Jake Sheridan 84'

Saturday 10 December 2005

 

Kick Off @ 15:00



Match Report

Super sub Foy rescues late point for Wrexham
By: Mark Williams

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: The margin of victory over Mansfield in midweek was comprehensive but the performance was not. A good performance today is required to give confidence for the next four games as they are all against teams who are above us in the table.

CONDITIONS: Dry and mild for this time of the year.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: The performance was better than Tuesday night but not the result.

TURNING POINT: If Wrexham’s early goal would have not been disallowed, it would have forced Notts County to attack us and not time waste.

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:

Wrexham started the game brightly and Jon Walters had the ball in the back of the net after five minutes but this was chalked off by the referee for an earlier foul in the build up to the goal.

Lee McEvillyWrexham continued to look lively against a well organised defence but struggled to create any clear cut chances. On the other hand Notts County continually found space in behind the both wing backs but the final ball in lacked any quality and Wrexham cleared the danger.

Inform Lee McEvilly had an opportunity to put Wrexham ahead midway through the first half when the ball broke to him in the box but Pilkington did well to smother his shot behind for a corner.

Wrexham then forced three successive corners to pile the pressure on the County defence but despite a few nervous moments for the visitors they held strong and eventually hacked the third corner clear.

As the first half drew to a close the visitors cleared one header off the line and a diving header took the ball away from Lee McEvilly as the striker was about to pounce. Wrexham also lost the services of Dennis Lawrence a minute before the break with what looked like a rib injury and he was replaced by youngster Mike Williams, noticeably ahead of Paul Warhurst.

 

Notts County where booting every ball out to hit the stadiums roof, and wasted loads of time
 

From dyf

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The second half started with Notts County clearly showing they had come for a draw as it took the visitors two minutes to take a routine free kick on the half way line when their left back had difficulty in tying his laces!

Wrexham again enjoyed the better of the possession but clear cut chances were few and far between for the Red Dragons. Darren Ferguson broke into the box to receive a pass from Jon Walters but his shot on his weaker right foot was blocked behind for a corner by Lewis McMahon. Lee McEvilly also had a half chance when he was allowed space down the left side of the area but he fired his low shot into the side netting.

With the game having nil nil written all over it, Notts County took the lead with six minutes left. The visitors had finally sprung into life and Mike Ingham had to rush off his line to clear for a throw in down Wrexham’s left. This was taken and the ball into the box was inadvertently flicked on by McEvilly and Wrexham lost the second header with substitute Jake Sheridan looping the ball over Ingham from close range.

Robbie FoyDenis Smith immediately replaced Crowell with Robbie Foy and this move paid dividends when the on loan Liverpool striker equalised deep into injury time. It was a perfect through ball from Walters that sent Foy clear on goal and the striker showed no fear curling the ball around the stranded Pilkington for the equaliser.

There was still time for Wrexham to force another corner but following a scramble in the box the visitors cleared and soon after the final whistle sounded.

OPPOSITION AND FANS: Notts County were every well organised at the back but hardly offered anything upfront. If they can find a striker who can bang in the gaols then they will probably get a play off place but if not they will end up in mid table. Despite being close to Christmas you would have expected more than about the 200 who made the trip from Nottingham.

OFFICIALS: Neil Swarbrick’s decision to disallow Wrexham’s early goal had an impact on the outcome of the game but apart from that there were no other controversial decisions to make. It was also pleasing for no players to end up in the book.

MAN OF THE MATCH: This is a difficult one as no one player stood out for Wrexham but on the balance of play Jon Walters worked hard and probably just edged it, but form who I do not know!

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: Tuesday night we played bad and won, and today we played better but drew! The defence again looked composed and a bit of luck in front of goal could have ended up with another three points.

Match Reaction

Listen to Denis Smith speaking to BBC Radio Wales

 

Denis Smith: "We could, and should, have been well in front before half-time and I'll be interested to watch the match video to see why the referee has disallowed Jon Walters' goal. Had that been given, then they would have had to change their tactics. They showed us a lot of respect and obviously set themselves up to get a result. In fact they didn't actually make it that difficult for us in the first-half and it was one of those situations whereby you didn't want the break to come. However, I still thought that we were the better side in the second-half. After Tuesday's game, I came in and commented that we hadn't played well but had still won convincingly. Today we've play well but not won and some people will say that he's going to say that anyway. Perhaps it's better if I just say that we are brilliant when we win and rubbish when we lose. I was going to bring Robbie Foy on at 0-0 to try and win the game. Obviously they scored before we could get him on. I had a long chat with him beforehand because he has been coughing and spluttering all week but he wanted to play and got his just reward. It keeps our impressive home record intact but I'm not really bothered where we get the points. I'm more interested in winning games and getting promotion next May. I was delighted with the size of the crowd today. I think that they certainly got value for money with our performance." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

 

Gudjon Thordarson: "Unfortunately for us it looks as if their goal was offside. That is disappointing for us because we have had goals that were offside given against us this season, for example at Torquay last Saturday and also Grimsby earlier in the season. I felt very strongly it was offside, but can now do nothing about that. We are disappointed because we felt we had done enough. I was pleased for Jake Sheridan, for him to get his first goal was great. We have tried him up front a few times and we did that in a behind-closed-doors game against Derby a few weeks ago. I decided to throw him on at the break, and it paid off. It decided to change it on a tactical basis, and luckily it worked. It was a better display today and I was happy with the overall performance. We were strong at the back, but it wasn't just there. We did a lot of hard work in the midfield. Every member of the team played a part in the defensive shape, and I was pleased with that. We have not seen consistent performances so far, and if we can produce that sort of performance this season we will be higher up the league, but that is what we are battling against. But, the thing is we have a lot of young players in the squad who do not have the experience to carry us forward right now. Like I said yesterday we cannot expect a lot at times, but all this is a learning process. One thing is, when we are at it we are good as anyone in this league. [Source: Notts County FC]

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
04 Dave Bayliss
08 Danny Williams
06 Dennis Lawrence 44'
15 Lee Roche
16 Matt Crowell 85'
17 Mark Jones
10 Darren Ferguson
03 Alex Smith 72'
09 Jon Walters
11 Lee McEvilly

Subs:

05 Paul Warhurst
12 Dean Bennett 72'
13 Michael Jones (GK)
14 Robbie Foy 85'
25 Mike Williams 44'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 8
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 2
Possession: 52%
Fouls Conceded: 8
Corners: 9
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Notts County

Starting XI:

01 Kevin Pilkington
08 Julien Baudet
20 Kelvin Wilson
19 Emmet Friars
02 David Pipe
24 Leis McMahon
04 Mike Edwards
23 Liam Needham
17 Robert Ullathorne
10 Glynn Hurst 45'
28 Mark DeBolla 64'

Subs:

12 Chris Palmer
22 Stacy Long
25 Andy White 64'
27 Jake Skeridan 45'
30 Shaun Marshall (GK)

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 7
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 3
Possession: 48%
Fouls Conceded: 7
Corners: 3
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes

Venue Racecourse Ground
Attendance 4,726
Half Time Wrexham 0 Notts County 0
Referee Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)

Other Match Reports

BBC Radio Wales Match Report


BBC: Wrexham 1-1 Notts County


Notts County FC: Late Heartbreak For Notts


TEAMtalk: Foy strike saves dragons


Wales on Sunday: It's Foy wonder for the Reds


Wrexham AFC: Wrexham 1 Notts County 1


Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Notts. County 1

League 2 Results

Barnet 0 Northampton1
Cheltenham 2 Macclesfield 2
Grimsby 0 Bristol Rovers 1
Leyton Orient 0 Bury 1
Lincoln City 3 Chester 1
Peterborough 1 Carlisle 1
Rushden & Diamonds 1 Mansfield 2
Shrewsbury 1 Boston United 1
Stockport 0 Darlington 3
Torquay 3 Oxford United 3
Wrexham 1 Notts County 1
Wycombe 3 Rochdale 0

League 2 Table

Pos Team Pld GD Pts
4 Leyton Orient 21 3 34
5 Chester City 21 9 33
6 Rochdale 21 5 33
7 Northampton Town 21 9 32
8 Wrexham 21 9 31
9 Cheltenham Town 21 0 30
10 Peterborough United 21 5 28
11 Boston United 21 0 28
12 Bristol Rovers 21 -8 28
13 Notts County 21 -6 27
14 Darlington 21 2 26
15 Shrewsbury Town 20 -1 26
16 Oxford United 21 -4 26
17 Lincoln City 20 0 24
18 Bury 19 -1 23
19 Mansfield Town 20 -3 22
20 Barnet 20 -7 22
21 Macclesfield Town 20 -11 20
22 Rushden and Diamonds 20 -11 19
23 Stockport County 21 -15 17
24 Torquay United 21 -16 16

Next Game

Carlisle United (a), Coca Cola League 2

Saturday 17 December 2005, Kick Off @ 15:00