Match Report |
Reds stagger to finishing line
By: Alun Thomas
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS:
By our standards we’re on a bit of a roll, with six points and two clean
sheets in the last two games. We ought to extend this today despite The
Stags’ defeat of Grimsby last week.
CONDITIONS:
A bright, raw afternoon. Pitch in a bad way.
SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE:
The Ecstasy And The Agony, basically.
TURNING POINT:
Without a doubt the concession of a penalty just after we’d gone two up.
MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:
There were some early nerves on show as we struggled to get out of our
own half for the first five minutes, but thereafter the first period
developed (or rather didn’t) into a humdrum, incident-free hotchpotch.
The pitch did neither side any favours, with a number of Wrexham’s long
balls almost finding Derbyshire (the nearby county, that is, not our
loan striker of that name).
The game did, however, burst into life five minutes from the break. A
home forward burst through from halfway and skipped past several
challenges only to be expertly dispossessed in the act of shooting by
the chasing Spender. A minute later Spends was in the thick of the
action at the other end, his textbook volley comprehensively beating
home ‘keeper Pressman only to cannon back off a post.
Seven minutes into the second half we were ahead. Stags defender Buxton,
blissfully unaware of Derbyshire’s predatory instincts, sold Pressman
short with a backpass and the goal was a formality for Mr.D. Wrexham
were in the ascendancy now and eleven comfortable minutes later
Derbyshire doubled our lead, outpacing the home defence to fire under
Pressman, who will feel he should have done better.
So, two up, controlling the game, the visiting choir in full voice. What
could go wrong? Within six minutes the score was 2-2 and we were hanging
on for dear life as Mansfield looked like scoring every time they poured
forward, which for the last twenty minutes was pretty much constantly.
If we could have just held on a bit
longer, their heads had gone down
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Danny Williams tripped the home side’s Brown for a clear penalty,
clinically despatched by Richie Barker, and two minutes later the same
player headed in firmly at the far post as the entire Reds side seemed
to have joined the League Against Cruel Sports – that’s to say, giving
the Stags a sporting chance. Our defence was a pub league mess and we
were grateful more than once for Big Kick Ingy’s safe hands.
Three minutes of injury time, all of it spent in our half, did little to
calm the nerves as ultimately we claimed the point.
OPPOSITION AND FANS:
Mansfield’s recent 1-0 FA Cup defeat at St. James’s probably says more
about Newcastle’s strike problems than The Stags’ resilience. They
weren’t great but took enthusiastic advantage when we offered them a
helping hand. 4/10. Home fans seemed to find their voices after the
game, but then only to bait the visiting support about the World Cup.
1/10.
OFFICIALS:
The ref gave a player from each side the benefit of the doubt
(Derbyshire in our case) after late tackles, which was refreshing to
see. Got his bookings (our own Mark Jones and the hosts’ petulant Bell)
spot on as well.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Three or four contenders despite the disappointing outcome. Danny was
outstanding but blotted his copybook with the penalty. Ingy was sound
but some poor kicking let him down. Jim Whitley and Matt Crowell were
always busy, but if pushed I’d go for Dennis Lawrence – a quietly
authoritative captain’s performance.
IF YOU WERE DS:
Publicly I’d be trotting out the old line about taking a point if we’d
been offered it before the game – but privately I’d be seething at our
failure to take all three points.
POST-MATCH THOUGHTS:
An away point isn’t to be sneezed at, of course, but this Jekyll And
Hyde showing was a bitter pill to swallow.
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Match Reaction |
Listen to Denis Smith speaking
to BBC Radio Wales
Denis Smith: "It was a mad five minutes that cost us
dear today. We have defended well for the last three games, apart from that
brief spell here and it has cost us two points. In the previous two games I
have had half time to chat to them. Not today and we just couldn't hang on
long enough to start closing the game down. They brought some pace on with
their two substitutes, but we should have enough to counter that threat. No
complaint about the penalty, it was one. From my point of view we shouldn't
have conceded it, as the lad was going nowhere. I've had my say in the
dressing room over that and hopefully we will learn from this. At times were
a little too direct, we needed to get the ball down and play with it. I
couldn't see them scoring, but then we had that brief spell, which is not
like us. It's happened though and we have to learn from it for the future.
Look at the side we had out again and think of their ages. We are young and
at times we looked tired. Once we can get some of the long term injured
back, then that will only help us, especially with the heavy schedule we are
going into through March and April. I thought Sam Williams was superb today,
and while Matt scored two good goals, it's comes as something of a shock to
him to be playing twice in a week, especially after five months at Plymouth
and appearing as an occasionally substitute. I'm not worried about
performances away from home, it's just the results that we need to improve.
Still, trying to be positive, that's another game undefeated and I have
asked the lads to take us on a run - hopefully, this is just the start of
it." [Source:
Wrexham AFC]
Matt Derbyshire: "We should have held on"
Sam Williams: "It felt like a loss" |
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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 |
07 |
Andy Holt |
27 |
Sam Williams |
14 |
Matt Derbyshire
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Subs:
13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
19 |
Levi Mackin |
21 |
Marc Williams |
22 |
Matt Done |
25 |
Mike Williams |
Stats:
Shots on Goal: |
19 |
Shots on Target: |
9 |
Shots off Target: |
7 |
Possession: |
47% |
Fouls Conceded: |
17 |
Corners: |
4 |
Yellow Cards: |
1 |
Red Cards: |
0 |
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Match Notes |
Venue |
Field Mill |
Attendance |
3,139 |
Half Time |
Mansfield Town 0 Wrexham 0 |
Referee |
Gary Lewis (Cambridgeshire) |
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