Match Report |
Firing Blanks
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS:
After three games without a win, we should be looking to record three
points against a team that has gone nine games since their last win.
CONDITIONS:
Dry and cold
SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE:
Lacked any cutting edge
TURNING POINT:
Schmeichel’s early save from Mark Jones. If that would have gone it then
even Bury would have had to open up.
MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:
It was a bright opening to the game with Bury enjoying a lot of
possession down the Wrexham left. Andy Holt had a poor start to the game
with the Bury attackers often skipping past him although he did require
more support from midfield, as he was often outnumbered.
Despite Bury looking dangerous they failed to create any chances and it
was Wrexham who had the first shot on goal and it came as no real
surprise that it came from Mark Jones. The midfielder picked up the lose
ball midway in Bury’s half and he advanced to twenty five yards from
goal from where his well struck left footed drive was superbly turned around
the post by a full stretch Schmeichel.
Jim Whitley saw his long range effort well held by the keeper and good
approach play from Bennett and Williams resulted in Crowell having a
shot from the edge of the area but although it was well struck, it
lacked any accuracy to test Schmeichel.
Matt Derbyshire went in the book after 25 minutes for diving when he
went to ground after rounding Schmeichel in the box. If it was a dive
then it was a stupid decision as he would have had an open goal to role
the ball into.There were nervous moments for the Wrexham defence when Mattis
skipped
past Danny Williams on the edge of the area. Despite having sufficient
time to pick out a team mate in the box, his pull back from the by line
only found a well positioned Pejic who hacked clear from the edge of his
six yard box.
Chances were few and far between with the Bury midfield working hard to
close down their counterparts. This resulted in Wrexham having to play
the ball back to the three central defenders and their inevitable lumps
forward failed to pick out a red shirt.
For once, Wrexham did not look dangerous from set plays with the Bury
defence looking strong in the air. It was even more surprising to see
Andy Holt take some corners, especially when he is one of the better
headers of the ball.
Half time could not come quickly enough as the quality of the game
dropped minute-by-minute but the half time team talks did nothing to
brighten up a uninspiring game.
Bury had the better of the game at the start of the second half and almost opened
the scoring eight minutes after the restart. The Shakers forced a corner
down the Wrexham left and this was swung out to the far post. Ingham
came for the ball but failed to collect it but Pejic was on hand to boot Youngs’ header off his own line.
Bury had the best chance of the game moments later to break the deadlock
when good approach play resulted in Mattis being played in on the edge
of the area, but the striker failed to keep his composure and blasted
his shot high over the bar.
Bury should have opened the scoring midway through the second half when
Mattis had a clear shot on goal from twelve yards. This came from the
Wrexham defence failing to clear a ball in the box but his shot was
blocked by one of his own players who was lying on the ground on the
edge of the six yard box.
Wrexham broke quickly through Dean Bennett who ran half the length of
the pitch before setting Sam Williams clear on the edge of the area. The
on loan striker took the ball past two defenders only for one of them to
deflect his left footed shot into the air. The ball looped over
Schmeichel but Fitzgerald was hand to hack the ball behind for a corner.
Derbyshire somehow won a header between a crowd of Bury defenders but
this went straight at Schmeichel. Dean Bennett was next to test the Bury
keeper when he hit a deep cross from Andy Holt on the volley and
Schmeichel did well to hold onto the ball at the first attempt.
Substitutes were introduced late on but their was only one note worthy
chance in added time when Bury could only clear Holt’s long throw to the
edge of the area from where Mark Jones fired wide of the post.
OPPOSITION:
Bury came for the draw that will help their relegation battle. It will
be surprising if they do get relegated as they are one of the best
organised teams to visit the Racecourse this season, if not the most
adventurous.
OFFICIALS:
The big decision was booking Derbyshire for a dive in the box. It was
difficult to tell if he got this right from the Kop but it was a good
call if he did.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Hard to pick one but Pejic did not put a foot wring at the back.
IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH:
We are lacking some spark in midfield that went missing on a number of
occasions today. The return of McEvilly will be a boost as Sam Williams
does not provide enough of a presence up front. |
Match Reaction |
Denis Smith: "I am sure that everyone who looked at
today's game beforehand would have known what to expect. Anyone who expected
anything else would have been very disappointed. If you look at Bury's
recent League form and their results, they are all either 0-0 or 1-0; there
are very few goals in their games. They are set up to be difficult to break
down and they aim to frustrate teams. Even when they push forward, they
ensure that they have players covering at the back and their system is
designed to deny you any scoring chances. Some of the crowd were having a go
at some of the younger players and that's also disappointing, but we are as
frustrated as anyone that we failed to win. Bury set themselves up to
frustrate the opposition. Saying that we worked the ball around well and
that is what you have got to try and do, to pull them out of shape and
create some opportunities. Even when we brought Matty Done on, they made a
change straight away themselves to counter that and then doubled up on him
every time that he got the ball. To be fair the game could have gone either
way but neither side looked like scoring. From where I was I thought the
keepers challenge on Matt Derbyshire was a penalty but saying that both the
referee and the linesman were closer than me. We'll have to look on the
video to know for sure. We needed people to go past their defenders today to
create chances but we struggled to do that."
[Source:
Wrexham AFC - for more click here]
Dean Bennett: "We
should have had a penalty." |
|
Wrexham |
Starting XI:
01 |
Michael Ingham |
18 |
Shaun Pejic |
08 |
Danny Williams |
06 |
Dennis Lawrence |
12 |
Dean Bennett |
02 |
Jim Whitley
56' |
17 |
Mark Jones |
16 |
Matt Crowell
79' |
07 |
Andy Holt
|
27 |
Sam Williams |
14 |
Matt Derbyshire
|
Subs:
13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
19 |
Levi Mackin
56' |
21 |
Marc Williams |
22 |
Matt Done
79' |
25 |
Mike Williams |
Stats:
Shots on Goal: |
8 |
Shots on Target: |
4 |
Shots off Target: |
4 |
Possession: |
50% |
Fouls Conceded: |
14 |
Corners: |
7 |
Yellow Cards: |
2 |
Red Cards: |
0 |
|
Match Notes |
Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
Attendance |
4,134 |
Half Time |
Wrexham 0 Bury 0 |
Referee |
Mick Fletcher (Worcestershire) |
|
Other Match Reports |
BBC: Wrexham 0-0 Bury
Bury FC: Wrexham 0 Bury 0
MEN: Wrexham 0 Bury 0
TEAMtalk: Dragons held at home
Wales on Sunday: Not so Bury good!
Wrexham AFC: Wrexham 0 Bury 0
Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 0 Bury 0 |
League 2 Results |
Northampton 0 Carlisle 3 (Friday)
Bristol Rovers 1 Notts County 2
Darlington 1 Chester 0
Grimsby 3 Barnet 0
Leyton Orient 1 Cheltenham 0
Lincoln City 2 Rushden & Diamonds 2
Macclesfield 1 Rochdale 3
Mansfield 5 Boston United 0
Stockport 2 Oxford United 1
Torquay 1 Peterborough 0
Wrexham 0 Bury 0
Wycombe 2 Shrewsbury 0 |
League 2 Table |
Pos |
Team |
Pld |
GD
|
PTS
|
1 |
Carlisle |
36 |
31 |
65 |
2 |
Wycombe |
37 |
22 |
65 |
3 |
Grimsby |
36 |
22 |
64 |
4 |
Leyton Orient |
37 |
11 |
63 |
5 |
Northampton |
36 |
17 |
60 |
6 |
Peterborough |
37 |
12 |
55 |
7 |
Cheltenham |
36 |
4 |
54 |
8 |
Lincoln City |
36 |
7 |
53 |
9 |
Bristol Rovers |
36 |
-7 |
50 |
10 |
Darlington |
36 |
8 |
49 |
11 |
Wrexham |
34 |
11 |
47 |
12 |
Notts County |
37 |
-9 |
47 |
13 |
Mansfield |
37 |
0 |
45 |
14 |
Shrewsbury |
37 |
-3 |
45 |
15 |
Boston Utd |
35 |
-7 |
45 |
16 |
Rochdale |
34 |
0 |
44 |
17 |
Stockport |
37 |
-19 |
40 |
18 |
Macclesfield |
35 |
-10 |
39 |
19 |
Bury |
35 |
-12 |
38 |
20 |
Barnet |
36 |
-14 |
38 |
21 |
Chester |
35 |
-8 |
37 |
22 |
Oxford Utd |
35 |
-12 |
37 |
23 |
Torquay |
37 |
-19 |
36 |
24 |
Rushden & D'monds |
37 |
-25 |
35 |
|
Next Game |
Macclesfield Town (a), Coca Cola League 2
Tuesday 14
March 2006, Kick off @ 19:45 |
| |