Wrexham 0

 

Bury 0

 

Saturday 11 March 2006

 

Kick Off @



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.

Matt DerbyshireJim 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.

Sam WilliamsWrexham 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

Bury

Starting XI:

25 Kasper Schmeichel
12 Paul Scott
05 David Challinor
04 John Fitzgerald
06 Colin Woodthorpe
07 David Flitcroft 81'
08 Dwayne Mattis
11 Brian Barry-Murphy
17 David Buchanan
33 Colin Marrison
10 Tom Youngs 79'

Subs:

15 Chris Bass
20 Nick Adams 81'
22 Matthew Tipton
24 Jake Speight 79'
30 Aaron Grundy (GK)

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 4
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 3
Possession: 50%
Fouls Conceded: 17
Corners: 2
Yellow Cards: 3
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