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Match Report |
Wrexham failed to turn up for the first
game under Brian Carey’s charge and dropped to second d bottom of the
Football League following the poor 2-0 defeat at home to Wycombe.
Wrexham were never at the races and should have been more than 2-0 down
long before Wycombe’s keeper was sent off in the second half for booting
the ball with venom into the Wrexham crowd.
Two soft goals proved Wrexham’s downfall but really we were never in any
danger of threatening Wycombe’s goal although we did pick up for a ten
minute spell when the visitors were reduced to ten men.
It is a sad state of affairs to take a brawl to spark the home team into
life although Wrexham were lucky to remain with eleven men following
Llewellyn’s two footed challenge that sparked a melee and the red card
for Batista.
The first half was unforgettable for Wrexham fans with the only
highlight being when Wrex the Dragon was banished to the stands after
his kit clashed with the home shirt and confused the linesman on the
opposite flank.
It was really that bad as Wrexham failed to direct a shot with any
interest on target as Wycombe created the best openings in the game
during the first half that was controlled by the visitors.
Wrexham made just two changes from the Stockport game with Steve Evans
returning as expected into the centre of defence. This resulted in Danny
Williams moving back into midfield but rather surprising Garrett was
pushed out wide to accommodate this change after playing so well on his
debut in midweek. The player to miss out was Lee McEvilly as he sat on
the bench with Chris Llewellyn moving up front to partner Marc Williams.
The other change saw Cherno Sambo replace Matty Done on the left wing.
In complete contrast to the performance against Stockport, there was no
tempo to Wrexham’s game and this resulted in a drab opening of the game
as Wycombe also struggled to get out of first gear.
The first noticeable incident was sheer stupidity from Ryan Valentine
after he was booked for the tenth time this season for kicking the ball
away and this means he picks up a two game ban for his sins.
Stockley joined Valentine in the book after he scythed down Sambo on the
touch line but the visitors took the lead midway through the first half
with a goal that came out of the blue.
A free kick was delivered deep into the Wrexham box and Mike Williamson
got goal side of Steve Evans to loop a headed over the stranded Ingham
who had advanced three yards off his line into no mans land.
Wrexham were rocked after this and Wycombe should have been celebrating
a second following a powerful run by Grant down the right. He just
jinked past the static Wrexham defence and picked out Easter unmarked
ten yards out but he took too long to get his shot away and Ingham made
a comfortable save.
The nerves in the backline appeared again on the half hour mark as Pejic
sold Ingham short with a back pass and Wrexham got off lucky as Ingham's
clearance deflected off the Wycombe attacker and out for a throw in.
Wrexham did manage to muster a couple of corners towards the end of the
first half but they failed to test keeper Batista in the Wycombe goal
with Pejic heading wide from a free kick swung in by Samba.
Wycombe failed to make most of a couple of chances towards the end of
the first half as Grant fired a low shot wide of the far post and poor
defending from Samba allowed Grant to set up Easter for a second time
but Wycombe’s top scorer failed to hit the target.
This was all set to change seven minutes after the restart after
shocking defending from Wrexham gifted Easter his 21st goal of the
season.
Grant again got the better of Valentine down the Wycombe right and this
forced Steve Evans to come out to challenge him but he was unable to
prevent the cross from coming in.
Both Roche and Pejic went to meet the cross but Mooney managed to flick
the ball on to Easter who was left unmarked six yards out from goal and
he smashed the ball arrogantly past Ingham who was left exposed by the
hapless Wrexham defence.
Wrexham did managed to have a shot on target by this time but
Llewellyn’s right footed shot from outside of the area was never really
going to trouble Batista in the Wycombe goal.
Wrexham were playing 4-3-3 after Lee McEvilly replaced Marc Williams at
half time and Brian Carey made his second change of the afternoon with
Matty Done replacing the ineffective Samba following Wycombe's second
goal
But it was almost 3-0 before the hour mark as Wrexham’s defence went
missing again but this time Golbourne’s shot rebounded out off the far
post after the Wycombe player was again left unchallenged inside of the
Wrexham area.
Llewellyn was getting frustrated out on the right and he should have
seen red for a two footed challenge on Oakes and this sparked a melee
with Wycombe players incensed at the challenge.
After both linesmen came on the pitch to calm the situation down,
Llewellyn was lucky to just get a yellow but this was his fifth of the
season and he will also miss next week’s trip to Darren Ferguson’s
Peterborough. McEvilly and Grant were also booked for their part in the
confrontation and just when you though it had all calmed down, Batista
blasted the ball into the crowd and was show a straight red.
Wycombe replaced scorer Easter as Jamie Young came on to take over in
goal but his first job of the afternoon should have been to pick the
ball out of the net but McEvilly could only direct the ball into the
keeper’s hands after Llewellyn dropped the ball on his head with a
superb cross.
Wrexham brought on Jamie Reed for Mitchell, his last appearance in a red
shirt, as Wrexham went 4-2-4 and McEvilly dragged a poor shot wide
despite having Llewellyn in acres of space to his right.
Wrexham continued to press but never really looked like scoring and
failed to make the most of Young dropping a cross in from the right as
the keeper managed to gather at the second attempt.
Wrexham’s last real chance fell to Danny Williams but he fired wide of
the far post after the ball fell to him in the box following a quickly
taken Valentine free kick.
There was still six minutes of injury time to be played but like the
ninety before it, Wrexham struggled to test the keeper and left the
pitch to a chorus of boos. |
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Match Reaction |
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Brian Carey: "That was very disappointing. This has
been the first game where I say that they [the players] weren't with us
today. As I said, very, very disappointing. Their keeper has been sent off
for kicking the ball into the crowd, or something like that, but why should
it take something like that for the players to start? Why can't they be like
that from the off? One stupid incident in the game and all of a sudden there
was a change of mindset, but why can't they go at it like that from the off?
That's what people wanted to see and you could tell from the off that the
crowd had nothing to get excited about whatsoever. It took a sending off, or
something like that, to cheer the crowd up and get everybody going. The lads
need to have a good look at themselves and then go again basically. Both
goals were dreadful, basic elementary errors, things that we had spoken
about as well, bad goals to concede." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more] |
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