Wrexham 1

Danny Williams 65'

Macclesfield Town 1

Allan Russell 72'

Saturday 24 September 2005

 

Kick Off @ 15:00

Match Report
Reds let lead slip (again)
By: Mark Williams

PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: After two comfortable wins at home a third looked a good chance especially as Macclesfield had failed to pick up a point away from home in their four games so far.

CONDITIONS: Sunny with a chilling breeze.

SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: Not clinical enough in front of goal.

TURNING POINT: Macclesfield’s equaliser rocked Wrexham and they were unable to continue the tempo of their earlier play from the start of the second half.

MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:

With Macclesfield opting for one up front it was clear they had come for a draw and the Silkmen conceded a lot of possession to Wrexham. This was a feature of the game as a whole but despite Wrexham seeing a lot of the ball they failed to muster any early chances with Mark Jones going the closest with a low drive but it was a comfortable save for Fettis. Further long range efforts followed but the only one to test Fettis was a drive from Danny Williams with twenty minutes on the clock.

Michael InghamWrexham’s defence was disrupted with Michael Ingham limping off with a groin injury and he was replaced by teenager Michael Jones in the Wrexham goal. This was compounded with Wrexham reduced to ten men for almost ten minutes after what looked to be an accidental elbow on Paul Warhurst required the defender to leave the pitch for stitches.

Wrexham struggled without Warhurst as Macclesfield finally had a shot on goal but when it did came it was from an impossible angle for McIntyre and he fired over with Jones off his line. Jones was called into action when a ball down the vacant left side of the Wrexham defence presented an opportunity to McIntyre but Jones was quick off his line and managed to block the shot away for a corner.

Wrexham had half chances at best during the first half and the closest they came to opening the scoring was when Robbie Foy attempted an overhead kick which went narrowly wide of the post.

Wrexham did up the tempo for the second half and Ferguson in particular was the catalyst for the improved play but the best chances fell to the visitors as Macclesfield hit Wrexham on the counterattack. In one move a simple ball over the top sent Townsend clean through on goal but Linwood tracked back well and made a last ditch challenge on the striker to dispossess him on the edge of the box.

 

Yet again what has cost us has been lack of goals

From the holt dragon

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Foy was lively at the start of the second half but was more interested in taking shots from all ranges when it would have been better to pick out one of his team mates and when he was played through by Ferguson his shot was well saved by Fettis. Mark Jones then connected sweetly with a first time volley that flew a yard over the bar.

Wrexham went closest to breaking the deadlock when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area following a foul on Mark Jones. Ferguson laid the ball back to Bennett and with Fettis’ view blocked by Lawrence the keeper watched helplessly as the ball agonisingly cleared the cross bar.

A strong, but fair, challenge by Morley on Foy wound up the striker and you could see a foul from Foy coming before he hacked down Morley midway in the Macclesfield half. The resulting yellow card was as inevitable as Foy’s foul.

Danny WilliamsWrexham were not to be denied when they finally penetrated the stubborn Macclesfield backline with the opening goal in the 65th minute. Wrexham won a corner that Ferguson swung out from the left and with Lawrence and Linwood taking all the markers to the near post Danny Williams was free to power a header past Fettis to round off a well worked corner routine.

Foy was extremely lucky not collect a second yellow card for a late challenge on Townson and compounded matters further when he shoved another Macclesfield in front of the referee but thankfully Dermott Gallagher kept his cards in the pocket. Denis Smith was not taking any chances as he replaced Foy with Simon Spender at right wing back and Bennett moving up front.

At the same time striker Allan Russell replaced Barras and this move paid off for Macclesfield with the substitute equalising within two minutes of coming on in the 72nd minute. Paul Warhurst had appeared to be in control of the situation on the edge of the Wrexham area but Russell somehow managed to dispossess Warhurst and at the same time turned him and Linwood, before firing a well struck shot into the bottom corner that gave Jones no chance of saving.

Danny Williams then went close to regaining the lead when he connected well with a Ferguson lay off but his goal bound shot was deflected behind for a corner. Simon Spender was played into acres of space on the right but he was denied by a good save from Fettis. Spender was again free on the right and this time he picked out Mark Jones inside the six yard box but he could only stop the ball rather than turn it in although the flag had already been raised for offside.

Wrexham had a couple of half chances but Warhurst failed to keep his shot down from inside of the area when a corner was not cleared and Walters was denied when his curling shot was smothered by Fettis after a neat lay off from Bennett.

OPPOSITION: Macclesfield came for the point they wanted but lacked any ideas up front to ever put Wrexham under any pressure.

OFFICIALS: Dermot Gallagher had a good game and his early booking of Morley for time wasting in the second half at least stopped Macclesfield from continuing with these tactics as Wrexham strived to up the pace of the game.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Danny Williams – stopped a lot of Macclesfield attacks and appeared to be everywhere in the second half and topped it all off with a well taken goal.

IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: The strikers again never looked like scoring but with both wing backs not looking to get into the box they were often left with just one striker in the box. If we did win the header then no one was around to pick up the second ball and the Macclesfield defence had a comfortable afternoon.

Match Reaction

Listen to Denis Smith speaking to BBC Radio Wales

 

Denis Smith: "That's two games running that we have failed to hold onto the lead. We are not a side that is going to score masses of goals at the moment as we haven't got a natural goalscorer. Yet at the end we could have lost it! In the first half I though we were on top but things got disrupted with the injuries to Michael Ingham and Paul Warhurst.

 

"Even after the break I had to bring off Robbie Foy before he got sent-off. Had he stayed on then I hope that he would have held the ball up which came back and led to their equalizer. Macclesfield obviously made it hard for us and they set out their stall to frustrate. They kept men behind the ball and only left one up front. After the break they became more dangerous but we should still not have given up another lead.

 

"My job is to make the team play attractive football, but attractive football alone does not bring the crowds in. Winning football does that. We needed to sit in at times and make the right decision, which we didn't do at times today." [Source: Wrexham AFC]

 

Brian Horton: "It was good to get the first away point of the season because we've not really played in the first half and they've dominated it a bit. But we survived and we defended well. But the attacking was poor. We weren't keeping the ball up and some of the quality was poor.

"But when we conceded in the second half, and it was a poor goal to concede, I changed it to bring Russell on straight away. The lad had hardly trained all week but I put him on to have him, Bully and Townson up front and it livened us up no end.

"I went to a back four and it made it a really open game. We created some good openings and I was pleased with them in the end.

"It was a great goal by Allan. He's deserved it because he has worked very hard. He got that knock and couldn't train much this week. But credit to him because he's come back into the side today after just training on Friday and struck a great goal. And that will do his confidence the power of good. And he was also keeping the ball well which is what we have been missing." [Source: Macclesfield Town FC]

League 2 Table
Pos Team Pld W D L F A GD Pts
4 Chester City 10 4 5 1 18 11 7 17
5 Notts County 10 4 5 1 11 8 3 17
6 Carlisle United 10 5 2 3 12 10 2 17
7 Leyton Orient 10 5 2 3 16 16 0 17
8 Shrewsbury Town 10 4 3 3 11 8 3 15
9 Northampton Town 10 3 5 2 14 11 3 14
10 Cheltenham Town 10 3 5 2 14 12 2 14
11 Peterborough United 10 4 2 4 10 9 1 14
12 Oxford United 10 3 5 2 13 13 0 14
13 Wrexham 10 3 4 3 11 9 2 13
14 Darlington 10 3 4 3 14 13 1 13
15 Barnet 10 3 3 4 12 13 -1 12
16 Bristol Rovers 10 3 3 4 12 17 -5 12
17 Lincoln City 10 2 5 3 11 11 0 11
18 Rushden and Diamonds 10 2 5 3 10 14 -4 11
19 Stockport County 10 1 7 2 15 16 -1 10
20 Boston United 10 1 6 3 14 19 -5 9
21 Macclesfield Town 10 2 3 5 12 18 -6 9
22 Torquay United 10 2 2 6 7 17 -10 8
23 Mansfield Town 10 1 3 6 14 20 -6 6
24 Bury 10 1 3 6 9 16 -7 6

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham 25'
21 Paul Linwood
05 Paul Warhurst
06 Dennis Lawrence
12 Dean Bennett
08 Danny Williams
17 Mark Jones
10 Darren Ferguson
03 Alex Smith
09 Jon Walters
14 Robbie Foy 70'

Subs:

04 Dave Bayliss
13 Michael Jones (GK) 25'
19 Levi Mackin
20 Simon Spender 70'
22 Matt Done

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 13
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 7
Possession: 56%
Fouls Conceded: 9
Corners: 6
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Macclesfield Town

Starting XI:

01 Alan Fettis
16 Tony Barras 70'
04 David Morley
05 Danny Swailes
19 Michael Briscoe
12 Danny Whitaker
07 Paul Harsley
14 Kevin McIntyre
03 Kevin Sandworth 45'
06 Martin Bullock
09 Kevin Townson

Subs:

10 John Miles
11 David Beresford
22 Tim Deasy (GK)
23 Andrew Smart 45'
25 Allan Russell 70'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 4
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 2
Possession: 44%
Fouls Conceded: 12
Corners: 8
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes
Venue Racecourse Ground
Attendance 3,830
Half Time Wrexham 0 Macclesfield 0
Referee Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)

Match Incidents

65'

 Danny Williams powers home a header from Darren Ferguson's corner
72' Substitute Allan Russell scores within two minutes of coming of with a powerful shot after he dispossessed Paul Warhurst on the edge of the area

Other Match Reports

BBC Radio Wales Match Report

BBC: Wrexham 1-1 Macclesfield

Macclesfield Town FC: Wrexham 1-1 Macclesfield

MEN: Wrexham 1 v Macclesfield 1

TEAMtalk: Russell super sub for Silkmen

Wrexham AFC: Another lead slips again

Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Macclesfield Town 1

Other Games

League 2 Results:

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

Next Game

Wycombe Wanderers (a), Coca Cola League 2

Tuesday 27 September 2005, Kick Off @ 19:45