Wrexham 2

Matt Derbyshire 24' 36'

Rushden & Diamonds 0

 

Tuesday 14 February 2006

 

Kick Off @ 19:45

Match Report
Debut to remember for Derbyshire

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: The players should be fresh after not playing on the weekend and with only one change from the team that outplayed Wycombe should mean another three points.

CONDITIONS: Windy and the rain came in towards the end.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: We did all the damage in the first half.

TURNING POINT: The second goal killed off Rushden & Diamonds

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:

Wrexham had a nervous start when they failed to deal convincingly with a couple of crosses into the box. The first came from a corner when the referee failed to notice a foul on Danny Williams and Wrexham managed to clear the danger at the back post. Wrexham in return forced a corner but the ball drifted out despite Dennis Lawrence challenging for the ball.

The first clear cut opening of the game came after fifteen minutes after Danny Williams was caught out of position in the centre of the Wrexham defence. A through ball from Stokes was played into the space vacated by Williams set Mikolanda clear of the Wrexham defence but he lacked composure when entering the area and dragged his shot wide of the target.

Derbyshire had his first site of goal on his debut but despite his pace taking him past the defender he failed to get any decent power on his shot to trouble the visitor’s keeper. Derbyshire had another effort soon after when Lawrence missed a cross in the box but the on loan Blackburn striker could not steer his header on target.

Rushden then broke quickly from a Wrexham corner following an air shot on the edge of the area by Mark Jones with the visitors finding themselves two on two inside the Wrexham half but Pejic did well to hold off the attack until reinforcements arrived to clear the danger.

Matt DerbyshireMinutes later and Derbyshire opened his account with Wrexham when he broke the deadlock in the twenty-fourth minute. Wrexham were awarded a free kick on the left touch line that Crowell delivered deep to the far post. Lawrence did well to head the ball downwards and from a tight angle Derbyshire was first to react to turn the ball past Tynan from close range.

Derbyshire was through on goal twelve minutes later and claimed his second of the night with a superb finish. Wrexham had a throw in from in their own half that they worked down the right flank to set Derbyshire free. The striker took broke into the area before despatching the ball inside of the far post with a sublime finish on the outside of his right foot.

Ingham had to claim the ball from underneath his bar after Broughton looped the ball into the air following a cross to the far post but at the other end Derbyshire had an opportunity to secure a debut hat trick. Crowell delivered another good ball from a set piece and although Derbyshire stooped to head the ball he could not keep his effort below the bar.

The second half was in stark contrast to its predecessor with little chances created from both teams. This resulted in a very dull encounter after the break and although the visitors had more of the game their clear lack of quality in the final third resulted in the Wrexham defence again having another comfortable 45 minutes.

Wrexham did invite extra pressure by resulting to long balls forward from defence that just conceded possession to the opposition and resulted in more attacks to defend. The closest Rushden & Diamonds came to reducing the deficit was when Broughton was picked out inside the box but his header shaved the cross bar on the hour mark.

The best chance that Wrexham could muster in the second half was when Derbyshire was set clear down the left flank but his centre looked perfect for Spender to race onto but the covering Bull cleared the ball away to safety.

The second half was a real none event as Wrexham did all the damage in the first half but towards the end they did require someone to put their foot on the ball in the midfield in order not to concede too much possession to the opposition

OPPOSITION: Having watched the game at Nene Park a month ago, Rushden & Diamonds remain one of the poorest teams in the division and lack any real quality in the final third of the pitch.

OFFICIALS: Allowed a few heavy challenges to go unpunished and where did the five minutes of injury time come from?

MAN OF THE MATCH: Matt Derbyshire – two goals on your debut and a lot of running up front made it a easy decision to make.

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: Take the three points after a good first half performance and the clean sheet is another plus point.

Match Reaction

Denis Smith: "It was a good result. For a lot of the game, the ball had a headache as it was up in the air more than it was on the ground. They must be sick of us because Mark Jones scored two great goals down there and today Matty Derbyshire has scored two good 'goalscorers goals' which has killed them off. We defended well again, that's two games on the trot at home where we have closed the game down once we've gone in the lead, and I'm quite happy with that. That's two clean sheets in the last two games and that shows that we are defending better. We were defending very well at the start of the season and it's taken us a bit of time to get back to being solid, but we now look very difficult to break down. When you have got someone up front with that sort of pace [Matt Derbyshire], it's going to cause people problems and we've now got three players who can score goals. I felt Sam Williams worked his socks off and he can score. Obviously there's Mark Jones and now Matty. You can se why I tried to get Matty in at the start of the season and I've been pestering ever since." [Source: Wrexham AFC - for more click here]

 

Matt Derbyshire: "I've had a brilliant time tonight. I've come to Wrexham and to twice score on my debut is fantastic. I like to play on the shoulder of the last defender and from what I've seen so far defenders don't like that. While I was pleased with the second, a goal is a goal. It doesn't matter how it goes in as long as it does. I have been told that the manager has been after me for a while. I've now got to look to form a partnership with Sam Williams. I'm just 19 and he's only 18 so we are both still learning our trade. However, hopefully we will develop an understanding once we have played a few games together. I've enjoyed it here so far and hopefully I can do enough to extend the loan spell. I would be happy with that." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

 

Barry Hunter: "This was always going to be a tough test for us, but I felt we could measure our progress against a side that will be looking to get into the play-offs. Obviously I'm disappointed that we gave away two cheap goals, especially when we don't seem to get those in our favour at the moment. Having said that, if you don't score then you will struggle. There were a number of things in the build up to both goals that I wasn't happy about. Overall though, I thought we matched Wrexham." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
18 Shaun Pejic
08 Danny Williams
06 Dennis Lawrence
20 Simon Spender
02 Jim Whitley
17 Mark Jones
16 Matt Crowell 89'
07 Andy Holt
14 Matt Derbyshire
27 Sam Williams

Subs:

13 Michael Jones (GK)
19 Levi Mackin 89'
21 Marc Williams
22 Matt Done
25 Mike Williams

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 8
Shots on Target: 5
Shots off Target: 3
Possession: 53%
Fouls Conceded: 9
Corners: 2
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Rushden & Diamonds

Starting XI:

47 Scott Tyan
06 Rob Gier
14 Wayne Hatswell
02 Philip Gulliver
21 Ronnie Bull
46 Tyrone Berry
11 Darren Caskey
43 Tony Stokes 55'
23 Marcus Kelly
09 Drewe Broughton
10 Petr Mikolanda 45'

Subs:

04 Gary Mills
07 David Savage 55'
15 Ashley Nicholls
36 Lee Tomlin 45'
42 Daniel Crane (GK)

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 7
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 6
Possession: 47%
Fouls Conceded: 13
Corners: 9
Yellow Cards: 3
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes
Venue Racecourse Ground
Attendance 3,195
Half Time Wrexham 2 Rushden& Diamonds 0
Referee Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Other Match Reports

BBC: Wrexham 2-0 Rushden

TEAMtalk: Derbyshire's dream debut

Western Mail: Dazzling debut by Derbyshire dims Diamonds

Wrexham AFC: Wrexham 2 Rushden 0

WrexhamMAD:Wrexham 2 Rushden&Diamonds 0

League 2 Results

Barnet 2 Lincoln City 3
Bristol Rovers 0 Cheltenham 1
Carlisle 2 Shrewsbury 2
Mansfield 2 Grimsby 1
Northampton 1 Leyton Orient 1
Notts County 1 Wycombe 2
Peterborough 2 Darlington 1
Stockport 3 Rochdale 0
Torquay 0 Bury 0
Wrexham 2 Rushden & Diamonds0
Boston United v Chester (Wednesday)
Oxford United v Macclesfield (Wednesday)

League 2 Table
Pos Team Pld GD Pts
4 Northampton Town 31 18 52
5 Leyton Orient 31 7 51
6 Peterborough United 32 11 48
7 Lincoln City 33 6 48
8 Cheltenham Town 31 4 48
9 Darlington 32 9 45
10 Bristol Rovers 32 -7 45
11 Wrexham 30 12 44
12 Notts County 32 -8 42
13 Boston United 31 2 41
14 Shrewsbury Town 31 -1 39
15 Rochdale 30 -4 36
16 Mansfield Town 31 -6 36
17 Barnet 30 -10 34
18 Oxford United 30 -10 34
19 Chester City 30 -5 33
20 Macclesfield Town 29 -10 33
21 Bury 29 -12 31
22 Torquay United 31 -15 31
23 Stockport County 30 -19 29
24 Rushden and Diamonds 32 -21 29

Next Game

Mansfield Town (a), Coca Cola League 2

Saturday 18 February 2006, Kick Off @ 15:00