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Match Report |
Wrexham too quick for the Bees
By: Mark Williams
PRE-MATCH THOUGHTS: Went into the game with not much hope due to
our injury problems and the fact Barnet have made a good start to the
season.
CONDITIONS: A sunny warm day with a little breeze.
SUM UP OUR PERFORMANCE IN ONE SENTENCE: Wrexham dominated from
start to finish with the midfield making the most of the free space
offered to them by a poor Barnet side.
TURNING POINT: 36 seconds – Mark Jones scored and Wrexham didn’t
look back.
MAIN INCIDENTS AND GOALS:
It was a frantic start to the game with Wrexham opening the scoring
after only 36 seconds. Virtually from the kick off Paul Warhurst played
a defence splitting pass to send Mark Jones free and his inside ball
picked out Jon Walters. His shot was blocked by Tynan but Mark Jones had
followed upwell and swept the ball home as the Bees watched in
despair.
The early goal did not knock Barnet out of their stride though and they had an
opportunity of equalising when Ingham failed to collect a low cross but
there were no strikers present to attack the lose ball and Ingham
claimed it at the second attempt. Alex Smith then miscued his clearance
but Grazioli did not take advantage of the mistake shooting straight
into the arms on Ingham.
Wrexham then created two good opportunities falling both to Mark Jones
after the approach play cut through the Barnet back line. In a flowing
move Jones and Foy linked up well and when the ball was laid off for
Jones he curled a shot narrowly wide. Moments later Barnet were
dispossessed in midfield but Jones fired over after Wrexham had worked the
ball to the edge of the area.
Another good move followed from Wrexham with both Alex Smith and Robbie
Foy in open space on the left wing. Barnet were caught out after Mark
Jones won the ball back on the half way line and picked out Smith. With
Foy running in tandem Smith slipped the ball inside for a quick one two
but he collected the ball on his wrong foot and could not get his shot
away. With the Barnet defence on the back foot they could not clear the
danger and the ball broke to Walters but his shot from twelve yards lacked any power to
beat Tynan.
Grazioli let Wrexham off the hook when he placed his shot wide of
Ingham’s far post after being clean through
courtesy of Holt missing a simple ball on the edge of the area. The
miss proved costly as Wrexham went up the other end of the pitch and
scored after
winning a corner. Ferguson played it to Foy on the edge of the and after
lining up a shot he hit it straight at Warhurst who controlled the ball
well in the area before placing it under Tynan from twelve yards.
Ferguson was then clean through after Wrexham cut open the Barnet
defence again but he got the ball tangled up under his feet and this
allowed the Barnet defence to clear the danger. Mark Jones went close
again after a clearance found him on the edge of the area but although
he connected sweetly with the ball it went inches over the bar with
Tynan a spectator as the ball whistled past him.
Wrexham, or rather Dennis Lawrence, handed Barnet a life line in injury
time after he was nutmegged on the right touch line by Sinclair and
after the striker advanced into the box Lawrence clattered into him from
behind for a clear penalty. Ian Hendon stepped up and although Ingham
had gone the right way the power on the short meant the ball went under
his body and bounced up into the roof of the net.
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Foy looks very sharp and formed a
good understanding with Walters.
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From El Jonez
Have your say |
Wrexham had a couple of scares at the start of the second half but with
Ingham in such dominant form he was able to collect all that was thrown
at him with ease, as Wrexham put the victory beyond any doubt just
before the hour mark.
It was another flowing move that left the Barnet defence in pieces as
Wrexham simply cut through them with their slick passing. Wrexham worked
the ball around the back three before Lawrence found Holt on the touch
line. He fired in a pass to Jon Walters who controlled the ball well
before laying the ball off for Mark Jones. A neat drag back from the
midfielder created the space required to play the ball inside to Foy and he Liverpool
striker showed great composure on the ball finding the top corner with a
floated shot from the edge of the area.
Wrexham began to run at will at the Barnet defence who were giving too
much space to a rampant Wrexham side. With the strikers running hard up
front and the midfield closing down well Barnet kept giving away
possession in dangerous positions. In one incident Wrexham almost added
to their lead when Smith dropped his shoulder on the edge of the area to
play a one-two with Ferguson but his cut back was cleared behind for a
corner with Walters unmarked on the edge of the six yard box.
Mark Jones was replaced by Levi Mackin with a quarter of an hour left
and the fresh pair of legs just boosted Wrexham’s attacking options. At
one point he ran half the length of the pitch unmarked to the edge of
the area as Smith picked him out with a pin point pass from the left
wing but Mackin was just unable to lift the ball over Tynan with a first
time volley.
Minutes before this Wrexham almost conceded a bizarre own goal when
Lawrence connected with a cross from the left but Ingham was well
positioned as the ball literally flew into his hands. This was the only
save Ingham had to make in the entire second half as Wrexham strolled to
a comfortably victory.
OPPOSITION AND FANS: Barnet gave Wrexham too much space in
midfield and paid for not closing Wrexham down. They looked dangerous on
the break with a lot of pace but their final ball constantly failed to
pick out their strikers. The fans initial noise faded away just like
their teams performance as Wrexham turned the screw.
OFFICIALS: After making a good start to the game Trevor Parkes
made some increasingly random decisions in the second half. In a game
when neither physio came on to the pitch he still managed to issue five
bookings although he will probably pick up extra marks from the assessor
for his hand signals.
MAN OF THE MATCH: This is difficult one as nobody had a bad game
but I would opt for Robbie Foy narrowly ahead of Mark Jones. Foy
sealed it with the non stop running or the channels, good link up play
and rounded it off with a well taken goal.
IF YOU WERE DENIS SMITH: For once go home happy after Wrexham
finally created chances and put them away. The penalty was a bad one to
give away as it could have given Barnet confidence in the second half
but the hard work from the front two kept the pressure on Barnet. |
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Match Reaction |
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Denis Smith: "It was a good win today and one that we
needed after such a difficult start to the season. Fair play to Barnet, they
came to play and made it a very entertaining game for the supporters. I was
pleased with our performance; we were far more fluid in our passing and
movement. We had a long chat with all the players yesterday and talked about
not getting involved with the physical side of things. Today I'd like to
think that we saw the benefit of that in what was one of our better
performances of the season. Our first goal came after only 32 seconds, but
how many passes were involved in the build-up? We have been encouraging Mark
Jones to get in there and we saw the result of that today as he followed up
to put us in front. Their manager has just asked whether we can do a drugs
test on Jon Walters as he can't believe the effort that he put in and that
from a player who had a fitness test before the game. Our front two worked
hard and gave us some good movement. I've been telling Robbie Foy to get
into the box more as he tends to drop deep looking for the ball. We want him
to be more unpredictable and I think that that paid off today. I have no
argument with the penalty, it was just unprofessional to concede in the
seconds before half-time. But we have problems at the back and I think that
it cost us on this occasion. We were in control at that stage and it was
disappointing to only come in one goal in front. Considering the problems
with injuries, we needed this win to get people believing in us again. Three
of those on duty today only joined us last week, but are already beginning
to gel with the rest of the team." [Source:
Wrexham AFC] |
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League 2 Table |
|
Pos |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
|
1 |
Notts County |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
|
2 |
Darlington |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
11 |
|
3 |
Wycombe Wanderers |
6 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
10 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
|
4 |
Rochdale |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
11 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
|
5 |
Cheltenham Town |
6 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
|
6 |
Grimsby Town |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
10 |
|
7 |
Barnet |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
7 |
1 |
10 |
| 8 |
Leyton Orient |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
8 |
-1 |
10 |
| 9 |
Chester City |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
7 |
2 |
9 |
| 10 |
Northampton Town |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
|
11 |
Wrexham |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
| 12 |
Peterborough United |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
8 |
| 13 |
Carlisle United |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
-1 |
8 |
| 14 |
Lincoln City |
6 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
| 15 |
Oxford United |
5 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
| 16 |
Rushden and Diamonds |
5 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
-1 |
6 |
| 17 |
Shrewsbury Town |
6 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
-2 |
6 |
| 18 |
Mansfield Town |
6 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
10 |
-1 |
5 |
| 19 |
Stockport County |
6 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
7 |
9 |
-2 |
5 |
| 20 |
Bristol Rovers |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
10 |
-3 |
4 |
| 21 |
Macclesfield Town |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
-3 |
4 |
| 22 |
Bury |
6 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
11 |
-5 |
4 |
|
23 |
Boston United |
6 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
13 |
-6 |
3 |
|
24 |
Torquay United |
6 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
-6 |
2 |
 |
|
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Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
3,768 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham 2 Barnet 1 |
| Referee |
Trevor Parkes (West Midlands) |
|
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Match Incidents |
| 1' |
Mark Jones scores after the keeper
could only block a shot from Jon Walters |
| 32' |
Paul Warhurst converts after Wrexham
worked a short corner routine |
| 45' |
Dennis Lawrence concedes a penalty
that Ian Hendon just about converted after Ingham dived the correct
way |
| 59' |
Robbie Foy finishes a well worked
move with a lofted shot from the edge of the area |
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73'
73'
71'
71'