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Match Report |
Wrexham leave it late to make their point
By: Alun Thomas
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: We’ve had some mixed results at London Road
in the past few seasons – a single-goal reverse and a missed Ferguson
penalty in 2001, a last-minute penalty winner from Sam a year later, the
dreadful 6-1 capitulation two years ago and an Ugarte-inspired comeback
to claim a point last season. If we can win tonight we can claim the
play-off place we so lamentably failed to cement on Saturday. Posh,
though, have won three on the trot in League and Cup and will have
different ideas about the outcome.
CONDITIONS: A cool, clear autumn evening.
SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: We rode our luck more
than once to claim a point we really didn’t deserve.
TURNING POINT: The introduction of Foy seemed to liven us up for
the final, ultimately successful push.
MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:
For once we weren’t the better side to start off with and we were
grateful for some profligate Posh shooting and wasteful crosses in the
first fifteen minutes. Our attacks were sporadic to say the least – a
couple of Lawrence leaps and a brace of Walters wallops, one onto the
roof of the stand, much to the amusement of the assembled pizza-munchers.
It was to get worse for Mr. Walters. Midway through the half, though,
there was cause for optimism. A Wrexhamesque move involving seven or
eight passes culminated in Ferguson’s long ball being intelligently laid
back by Smith to Holt, whose cross found McEvilly looping a header over
the goalie and onto the roof of the net. Generally, though, our passing
wasn’t great.
 Posh’s
was better and it took a quite breathtaking tipover from Ingham to deny
them as the half hour approached, but on exactly 30 minutes their loanee
Lee Thorpe got away on the right in acres of space, had time to weigh up
his options and picked out the long-serving David Farrell who will never
score an easier goal, being unmarked, dead centre, six yard line. Two
minutes later it could have been worse. Thorpe was again the provider as
ex-Norwich man Danny Crow thundered a shot against the underside of the
bar. The ball rebounded to Dennis Lawrence who appeared transfixed as
Crow miss hit his second attempt for Ingy to gather safely.
After the break, Posh continued to pressurise us and a swerving centre
from Farrell deceived everyone before bouncing off the bar. Play
switched to the other end and around the hour mark we had two glorious
chances to equalise. A terrible backpass saw Evil beat the ‘keeper to
the ball only to fire criminally into the side netting, and a minute
later a spell of pinball in the home area saw the ball break to an
unmarked Walters, six yards out, left of centre. His ghastly finish
(high, wide and far from handsome) contrived to be both unbelievable and
unforgivable.
 The
introduction of the energetic Foy, for Smith, was a step in the right
direction but really the home side should have sewed things up with ten
minutes left. Crow was sent clear and his shot beat Ingham only to hit
the top of the bar, our ‘keeper claiming the rebound at the second
attempt. And so to the final, desperate assault. A free-kick, headed
behind for a corner, which met the same fate. This time Ferguson’s kick
from the right was aimed at the near post where Andy Holt arrived at
speed to head in. It was a just reward for Holty, a whole-hearted player
if ever there was one – and who kept plugging away even though,
unusually for him, he was subdued by the mediocrity around him. Levi
Mackin came on for the ineffective Danny Williams, whose Second Coming
isn’t really working out, as we comfortably saw out the final seconds.
OPPOSITION AND FANS: Peterborough are a bit like us, i.e. if they
don’t buck up they are in danger of becoming just another average
Division Four team. Their fans were noisier than usual, although that’s
not saying much.
OFFICIALS: Generally sound.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Michael Ingham, for that save alone, although
his all-round game was spot on. Honourable mentions for the Posh
crossbars and the travelling fans (probably less than 100) who found the
money, time and inclination to make the trip.
IF YOU WERE DS: I’d be leaving the signing of strikers to Rooster
in future. There may be hope for Walters, but McEvilly isn’t cutting it.
POST-MATCH THOUGHTS: Well, we got out of jail there, and the
players deserve credit for battling to the last – although, of course,
that’s what they are paid to do. But a point, away from home, after Posh
hit the bar three times, is not to be sneezed at. |
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Match Reaction |
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Denis Smith: "From our defending at present, you would
never know that I was an experienced defender in my day! The lead up to
their goal was full of school boy errors and it's something we are working
on to stop. It's far nicer to be scoring late goals than conceding them, but
I still feel that was a match we could have won. Up until they scored I
thought we were on top, but then had a rocky spell. I know they twice hit
the woodwork, but I wonder if that would have happened had we not changed
our formation to chase the game. That's twice we have gone to 4-4-2 and
twice it has lead to us scoring! The lads are desperate to win and they know
they are making mistakes, we just have to keep working on ways to reduce
those errors. It's only October now, but if we are up in the top ten in
January, then I know we can push on. I have to have the bottle to do that
and I want players here who will have the bottle as well."
[Source:
Wrexham AFC]
Mark Wright: 'We have dropped two points, the game
should have been over and in my opinion, the game should have finished 5-2.
We have hit the crossbar twice and Jamie Hand has missed a sitter. They had
a chance from the poor back-pass, but we should have killed the game off
well before they equalised. 'We are disappointed and to give the goal away
at the end was very frustrating. I think we missed the creativity of Peter
Gain in the midfield areas, we just needed a bit of a spark. Jamie Hand
loves to throw himself into tackles and he is a combative player, but he
missed the best chance of the whole game. He should have just smashed it
when the ball dropped, but it looked like he was trying to flick the ball
past the goalkeeper. It looked a boring game from the sidelines, I don't
know what the supporters thought of it. The wind spoilt the game and it was
hard to play good football. We look at the positives, we are unbeaten in
four and three of those games have yielded three points."
[Source:
Peterborough United FC] |
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Peterborough United |
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Starting XI:
| 01 |
Mark Tyler |
| 11 |
Adam Newton |
| 05 |
Sagi Burton |
| 06 |
Mark Arber |
| 12 |
Sean St. Ledger |
| 02 |
Dean Holden |
| 25 |
Jamie Hand
 |
| 04 |
Paul Carden |
| 07 |
David Farrell
 86' |
| 22 |
Danny Crow
 90' |
| 26 |
Lee Thorpe |
Subs:
| 03 |
Peter Kennedy
 86' |
| 09 |
Trevor Benjamin |
| 10 |
Calum Willock
 90' |
| 19 |
Richard Logan |
| 20 |
Ryan Semple |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
13 |
| Shots on Target: |
8 |
| Shots off Target: |
5 |
| Possession: |
53% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
15 |
| Corners: |
9 |
| Yellow Cards: |
1 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
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Wrexham |
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Starting XI:
| 01 |
Michael Ingham |
| 05 |
Paul Warhurst |
| 04 |
Dave Bayliss |
| 06 |
Dennis Lawrence |
| 07 |
Andy Holt
|
| 08 |
Danny Williams
84' |
| 10 |
Darren Ferguson |
| 03 |
Alex Smith
66' |
| 17 |
Mark Jones |
| 09 |
Jon Walters |
| 11 |
Lee McEvilly |
Subs:
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 14 |
Robbie Foy
66' |
| 19 |
Levi Mackin
84' |
| 20 |
Simon Spender |
| 25 |
MikeWilliams |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
12 |
| Shots on Target: |
4 |
| Shots off Target: |
8 |
| Possession: |
47% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
8 |
| Corners: |
5 |
| Yellow Cards: |
0 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
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Match Notes |
| Venue |
London Road |
| Attendance |
4,014 |
| Half Time |
Peterborough United Wrexham |
| Referee |
Mick Russell (Hertfordshire) |
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