Match Report |
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: A win – not
too much to ask after five straight defeats!
CONDITIONS: Chucked it down all afternoon
SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: Looked a little more
lively up front and the defence protected Michael Jones well.
TURNING POINT: Wrexham scored when they were on top in the game
and it gave the players something to hang onto.
MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:
Wrexham showed four changes from the weekend defeat at Stockport with
Danny Williams restored to his defensive role and Matt Crowell recalled
into midfield. Michael Jones replaced the injured Michael Ingham in goal
and it was no real surprise to see Lee McEvilly starting at the expense
of Jon Walters.
These changes had a quick reward for manager Denis Smith with Wrexham
opening the scoring within five minutes after a positive start to the
game. Wrexham had the visitors on the back foot on the off with Holt and
Crowell challenging hard for every ball.
The
goal came courtesy of a superb through ball from Ferguson in the fifth
minute when he picked out the run of Derbyshire behind the defence and
the on loan striker finished with a strike through the legs of Scott
Shearer.
Wrexham continued to press for the next ten minutes and good play from
Derbyshire and Spender down the right created a half chance for McEvilly
but the Rovers defence managed to clear the danger.
Bristol Rovers made a drab start to the game with Michael Jones only
having to deal with back passes and high crosses for the majority of the
game. Rovers’ efforts on goal were blocked away or off target as Jones’
green shirt remained clean for the first half.
Wrexham’s next best chance of the half came from a McEvilly free kick
that he curled over from twenty five yards. This was the start of a lull
in the game with the tempo from Wrexham’s play fizzing out but they made
half time by comfortably maintaining their 1-0 lead.
Bristol Rovers picked up in the second half but in honesty it would have
been difficult for a neutral to identify that either team had an outside
chance of a play off position.
Rovers enjoyed a lot more of the possession but the Wrexham defence held
strong, with the challenge often enough for the opposition attackers to
direct their efforts off target. Junior Agogo had their best chance when
he headed wide a Carruthers centre and Campbell went close when his shot
rose above the Wrexham bar following good approach work.
The best Wrexham could muster was when the ball broke to Sam Williams
from a challenge by the hard working McEvilly but the on loan striker’s
volley dipped the wrong side of the bar.
There were more nervous moments in the Wrexham defence as the game went
on but due to the slippery conditions, the ball frequently escaped both
teams when it skipped off the ground. This meant that crosses in by
Rovers often bounced across the face of goal without an opposition
player managing to get a touch on the ball.
Michael Jones helped his defence out by coming out to take crosses
cleanly and when he was unable to reach them, his defence were on hand
with Pejic doing well to direct a cross wide of the near post, as two
Rovers players were waiting for the ball on the opposite side of the six
yard box.
Wrexham did get lucky when they could only clear a corner to the edge of
the area, from where a drive by Carruthers was deflected into the arms
of a grateful Michael Jones via the foot of Rovers’ top scorer Richard
Walker.
Wrexham were now relying on the counter attack and substitute Dean
Bennett, who replaced Darren Ferguson, should have done better when he
got in down the left but his cross could only pick out goalkeeper Scott
Shearer.
Wrexham failed to make use of an extra man in attack when Bristol Rovers
were caught flat footed. Simon Spender was picked out unmarked down the
right but when the angle closed he would have been far better off
running time down in the corner, rather than firing over from 18 yards.
Wrexham had to withstand three minutes of injury time with Bristol
Rovers forcing three successive corners, as the Wrexham defence were
forced to block shots from Lines and Walker, but they held on for what
hopefully is a confidence boosting victory.
OPPOSITION: Very disappointing performance from Bristol Rovers
and probably just like Wrexham, they miss a real cutting edge to force
themselves into a play off position.
OFFICIALS: One of the best we have had this season. Kept the game
going and allowed for the conditions by keeping his cards in his pocket.
Top marks.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Simon Spender made a lot of ground down the
right and was strong in defence and was an option going forwards. Darren
Ferguson did start well but tired off in the second half.
IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: Relieved to end the run of five straight
defeats. |
Match Reaction |
Denis Smith: "We kept a clean sheet and that is just
what we needed especially with a young goalkeeper. We have not put in a good
performance defensively in recent games, but today we defended as though we
meant it and it is important to get clean sheets if you are to win games. I
thought that in recent games we started slowly against Shrewsbury, were
unfortunate at Chester and were poor at Stockport. If you don't get out of
the starting blocks in games, you've got problems but the players have stood
up and been counted today. I think that we looked as though we wanted it. I
had a long chat with the senior pros yesterday to see what they thought of
the situation and took on board some of their comments. They then held a
team meeting with the other players and I think we all took plenty out of
it. We have been unlucky at times in the last week, but then again we have
not defended as well we have today. Matt [Derbyshire] took his chance well
and it was a good ball off Darren [Ferguson] to set it up. Darren was
treading water late on and Matty Crowell did well to play the second half
with his injury." [Source:
Wrexham AFC]
Paul Trollope: "Wrexham started the game well for the
first 15 minutes or so, but for the last half-hour of the first half and all
the second half I thought we controlled the game. But although we had a lot
of possession, we didn't do enough in the final third. Too often the ball
came back after we got into decent positions, and although we had one or two
shots, crosses and half-chances, we never really tested their goalkeeper. I
don't think as a striking pair it was one of their better afternoons today,
with or without the ball. Physically they looked a bit short, but between
them they've scored a lot of goals this season and earned us a lot of
victories so we can't be too critical - today though it broke down too often
just when we needed someone to do something. At the business end of the
pitch things kept falling down, and rather than trying to do the right thing
we took too many chances and played too many hopeful balls. I've said before
if you can't put the ball in the back of the net, how you play box-to-box
doesn't matter. I have to say though, in terms of effort from the players,
especially second half, I was proud of them today. We didn't' get the right
result, which shows we're lacking something, but we didn't go down with a
whimper which was important." [Source:
Bristol Rovers FC] |
|
Bristol Rovers |
Starting XI:
23 |
Scott Shearer |
32 |
Aaron Lescott |
02 |
Craig Hinton |
06 |
Steve Elliott |
11 |
Chris Carruthers |
26 |
Lewis Haldene
62' |
08 |
James Hunt |
20 |
Craig Disley |
07 |
Stuart Campbell
85' |
09 |
Junior Agogo |
10 |
Richard Walker |
Subs:
05 |
Christian Edwards |
19 |
Alistair Gibb
62' |
22 |
Chris Lines
85' |
33 |
Martin Horsell (GK) |
39 |
Darren Mullings |
Stats:
Shots on Goal: |
6 |
Shots on Target: |
1 |
Shots off Target: |
5 |
Possession: |
60% |
Fouls Conceded: |
9 |
Corners: |
10 |
Yellow Cards: |
0 |
Red Cards: |
0 |
|
Match Notes |
Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
Attendance |
3,749 |
Half Time |
Wrexham Bristol Rovers |
Referee |
Lee Mason (Lancashire) |
|
Other Match Reports |
BBC: Wrexham 1-0 Bristol R
Bristol Rovers FC:Wrexham 1-0 Bristol Rovers
TEAMtalk: Derbyshire strike seals win
Wrexham AFC: Wrexham 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Bristol Rovers 0 |
League 2 Results |
Barnet 1 Mansfield 0
Boston United 1 Oxford United 0
Bury 0 Chester 0
Carlisle 2 Notts County 1
Cheltenham 1 Darlington 1
Leyton Orient 0 Grimsby 0
Macclesfield 0 Torquay 2
Northampton 2 Stockport 0
Rochdale 1 Peterborough 0
Wrexham 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Wycombe 0 Lincoln City 3
Shrewsbury v Rushden & Diamonds (Tuesday) |
League 2 Table |
Pos |
Team |
Pld |
GD |
Pts |
1 |
Carlisle United |
42 |
41 |
81 |
2 |
Northampton Town |
43 |
23 |
76 |
3 |
Leyton Orient |
43 |
14 |
74 |
4 |
Grimsby Town |
43 |
19 |
73 |
5 |
Cheltenham Town |
43 |
6 |
66 |
6 |
Wycombe Wanderers |
43 |
13 |
65 |
7 |
Lincoln City |
43 |
11 |
61 |
8 |
Peterborough United |
43 |
10 |
59 |
9 |
Darlington |
43 |
6 |
59 |
10 |
Wrexham |
43 |
8 |
57 |
11 |
Bristol Rovers |
43 |
-7 |
57 |
12 |
Boston United |
43 |
-10 |
57 |
13 |
Shrewsbury Town |
42 |
-1 |
55 |
14 |
Chester City |
43 |
-4 |
53 |
15 |
Mansfield Town |
43 |
-2 |
52 |
16 |
Rochdale |
41 |
-3 |
50 |
17 |
Macclesfield Town |
43 |
-11 |
50 |
18 |
Notts County |
43 |
-13 |
50 |
19 |
Oxford United |
43 |
-11 |
48 |
20 |
Bury |
43 |
-13 |
48 |
21 |
Barnet |
42 |
-14 |
48 |
22 |
Stockport County |
42 |
-19 |
47 |
23 |
Rushden and Diamonds |
42 |
-24 |
45 |
24 |
Torquay United |
42 |
-19 |
42 |
|
Next Game |
Torquay
United (a),
Coca Cola League 2
Saturday 22
April 2006, Kick Off @ 15:00 |
|