Match Report

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: After the disaster at Macclesfield we will need three points today to keep our play off hopes alive.

CONDITIONS: Windy and you could build sandcastles on the pitch.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: For once, the lead never looked in jeopardy with a professional performance from the start.

TURNING POINT: Rochdale never had a look in after Bayliss was sent off.

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:

On a pitch that was difficult to play football both sides struggled early on and Wrexham were not helped when Jim Whitley limped off after seven minutes to be replaced by Levi Mackin, who found himself on the bench after Matt Crowell was recalled to the first team.

We had to wait until fifteen minutes for the first effort on goal when Cooksey headed wide from a right wing cross. Up to this point Wrexham’s performance had been controlled without threatening the Rochdale goal and the opening goal after twenty minutes came as a surprise.

It was a simple goal in the end with Sam Williams heading Ingham’s long clearance to Andy Holt on the left. Holt swung in a deep cross that evaded the last defender and although the ball took an awkward bounce off the pitch, Derbyshire kept his composure to fire the ball through the legs of Gilks who was not expecting that type of shot.

Wrexham were almost caught out moments later when the ball was lost in midfield and with no player offering a tackle, Dagnall was allowed to progress to the edge of the area from where he curled a shot narrowly wide of the post.

Apart from this scare the Wrexham defence looked comfortable and the Red Dragons had an opportunity to double their advantage before half time. A cleavr through ball from Bennett set Derbyshire free and from a tight angle his shot from ten yards was expertly tipped over by Gilks to keep Rochdale in the game.

Rochdale enjoyed a decent amount of the ball at the start of the second half without ever testing Ingham, as Wrexham were content in allowing Rochdale possession around the half way line.

This resulted in little goal mouth incident with at least fifteen minutes had gone by before Ingham was called into action. Rochdale were awarded a free kick down the left wing and when the ball was played into the area, Christie found himself unmarked in the box but his header from ten yards was well saved by the Wrexham stopper.

Moments later and Dave Bayliss was heading for an early bath for his second foul on Matt Derbyshire, who had given him a torrid afternoon. Bayliss was booked in the first half for catching Derbyshire in the face and there can be no arguments with his second booking either, as Derbyshire’s pace left him for dead with the centre half’s late tackle being penalised with a yellow card and then the inevitable red.

There was no way back now for Rochdale and Wrexham should have extended their lead before the game ended. There was no player in the box when a teasing low cross from Mark Jones flashed across the face of goal after Derbyshire had set him up with a flick on from Ingham’s clearance.

With Rochdale introducing more attackers the inevitable gaps appeared in their defence and Derbyshire had the opportunity to grab his second of the afternoon when good play from Mark Jones had put him clear on goal. Derbyshire beat Gilks to the ball to lift it over the keeper but when the clearance rebounded back to him, Derbyshire’s follow up shot struck the base of the post with Rochdale scrambling the ball clear.

OPPOSITION AND FANS: Very poor performance from Rochdale and it is easy to see why they are languishing in mid table. Two fans at the end of the game came onto the pitch to throw their season tickets at their manager Steve Parkin. They were really that bad!

OFFICIALS: Cannot argue with the red card for Bayliss as they were two bad challenges but part from that he had nothing else to do all afternoon.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Matt Derbyshire – his pace upset the Rochdale defence, and in particular Bayliss, all afternoon. He took his goal well and was full of running to give the defence and midfield something to aim for.

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: I would be happy with a win and especially the clean sheet after Tuesday night. The three points today should be the starting point for a play off position especially with Ferguson, McEvilly and Walters all coming back fitness and the right stage of the season.

Match Reaction

Brian Carey: "This was a big result for us, after throwing away points in the past week. Indeed, I would go as far as saying this was a massive result for us. It might not have repaired the damage we did to our play-off hopes recently, but it is a help. Now we have to do our best to get as many points as possible and see if we can push ourselves back into play-off contention. This was a character test for the players, as for 70 minutes they had to make sure they defended that 1-0 goal lead. It was a test and one that we passed. We have shown that we can get in front and go on to win, which was important after some recent results." [Source: Wrexham AFC - click here for more]

Matt Crowell: "That was a hell of a result. We really needed that after Tuesday night; we've bounced back in the best possible way. Tuesday was gutting but we've shown real character. I didn't think we deserved to lose at Macclesfield, we played quite well but we got sloppy for a couple of the goals. We came here today knowing that we had to win if we were to have any chance of getting into the play-offs and we did, so now we're looking forward to Tuesday." [Source: Wrexham AFC - click here for more]

Steve Parkin: "We never really got going and we we're very disappointing from the first minute. We never threatened their 'keeper, never competed in midfield and dropped far too deep in defence. In terms of everything that could go wrong, it did go wrong and it was a bitterly disappointing afternoon and a game Wrexham thoroughly deserved to win. We conceded a goal we were never going to get back from and never really looked like we would. Derbyshire should have been picked up in the box and our inability to keep clean sheets showed once more. It terms of the lack-lustre performance it upsets me as a manager because we saw a performance so different seven days ago. In the space of a week we have gone from really good to really bad and that is very difficult to deal with. Sometimes when a player is playing against his old club or one he is on loan from they do have a twist. I had a chat with Dave Bayliss before the game to make sure he didn't do anything rash and should have known better going in for that challenge. I don't think he has any complaints really, he's played enough games now to know he should have stayed on his feet." [Source: Rochdale FC]

Rochdale

Starting XI:

01	Matthew Gilks
18	Simon Ramsden
15	Rory McArdle
25	Dave Bayliss
03	Tony Gallimore
11	Gary Jones 82'
22	John Dolan 73'
04	Ernie Cooksey 37'
09	Chris Dagnall
17	Richard Lambert
10	Ivseden Christie

Subs:

06	Jonathon Boardman
07	Lee Cartwright
14	Scott Warner 37'
21	Ben Kitchen 83'
27	Gary Brown 73'

Stats:

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01	Michael Ingham
18	Shaun Pejic
08	Danny Williams 69'
06	Dennis Lawrence
12	Dean Bennett
02	Jim Whitley 7'
17	Mark Jones
16	Matt Crowell
07	Andy Holt
27	Sam Williams
14	Matt Derbyshire

Subs:

09	Jon Walters
13	Michael Jones (GK)
19	Levi Mackin 7'
22	Matty Done
25	Mike Williams 69'

Stats:

Match Notes

Other Match Reports

BBC: Rochdale 0-1 Wrexham

Independent Dale: Dale 0 Wrexham 1

Rochdale FC: Rochdale 0-1 Wrexham

TEAMtalk: Wrexham win after Bayliss red

Wales on Sunday: Dragon Matt is on fire

Wrexham AFC: Rochdale 0 Wrexham 1

Wrexham MAD: Rochdale 0 Wrexham 1

League 2 Results

Boston United 2 Lincoln City 1
Chester 0 Cheltenham 1
Darlington 0 Carlisle 5
Grimsby 2 Bury 1
Mansfield 1 Northampton 0
Notts County 0 Oxford United 0
Peterborough 2 Barnet 2
Rochdale 0 Wrexham 1
Rushden & Diamonds 1 Leyton Orient 0
Shrewsbury 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Stockport 2 Macclesfield 0
Wycombe 0 Torquay 1

League 2 Table

Next Game

Cheltenham Town (a), Coca Cola League 2

Tuesday 21 March 2006, Kick Off @ 19:45