|
Match Report |
A 1-0 score line would suggest a
difficult afternoon for Wrexham but the ninety minutes of football in
this year’s FA Cup First Round proved to be a simple passage for the Red
Dragons with the visitors only really threatening in the dying seconds.
The crucial goal came five minutes before half time when Danny Williams
headed home a Steve Evans left wing cross but Danny Williams should have
been celebrating a hat trick of headers by this point, such was
Wrexham’s dominance from set plays.
Wrexham started the game with two changes from the midweek defeat at
Bury with Lee Roche and Darren Ferguson starting ahead of the injured
Ryan Valentine and the dropped Matt Crowell respectively.
Despite these changes, it was Stevenage who forced two nearly corners
but Wrexham defended these well and eventually started to dominate
proceedings after ten minutes.
After a spell of fifteen minutes when both teams cancelled each other
out, Wrexham should have taken a lead following a foul on striker Kevin
Smith. Darren Ferguson delivered a decent ball into the box from the
left wing but Danny Williams rose unmarked but he planted his free
header over the bar.
Danny Williams was the next Wrexham player to threaten the score line
ten minutes later when Maheta Molango picked him out with a good cross
but Williams this time steered his header into the arms of a grateful
Alan Julian.
Wrexham continued to threaten the Stevenage goal with Ferguson setting
up Matty Done and Kevin Smith but both players failed to test Julian in
the Stevenage goal.
Apart from a Stevenage corner, Wrexham continued to dominate proceedings
with Darren Ferguson controlling the strings and this ultimately
resulted in the only goal of the game coming in the fortieth minute.
Good play from Mark Jones, who had earlier picked up a booking for an
innocuous challenge, forced a corner for Wrexham. Ferguson floated the
ball in and it was third time lucky for Danny Williams as he looped a
header beyond Julian to give Wrexham a deserved lead.
Stevenage’s only other threat came in the one minute of added time when
Ingham did well to save at the feet of George Boyd and Pejic reacted
quickly to clear the danger as Wrexham ended the first half with a 1-0
lead.
Wrexham started the second half as they finished the first and were
awarded a free kick after Matty Done was brought down just outside of
the area after he had cut inside from the left wing. Jones and Ferguson
stood over the free kick but it was the latter who swung in the cross
that Steve Evans powered goalwards but Julian pushed the ball around the
far post.
The referee then dropped his cards on the halfway line and after Mike
Williams, a Stevenage player and Mark Jones through them into the
Stevenage area, the referee finally realised his mistake and collected
them from the opposition keeper.
Stevenage struggled to threaten the Wrexham goal with Ingham’s only work
coming when he collected catches from a couple of corners forced by the
visitors in rare attacks.
At the other end of the pitch, Kevin Smith did well to dispossess a
Stevenage defender by their corner flag on the left and after he crossed
in low, Molango failed to get any contact on the ball and the chance was
gone. Done then went close for Wrexham after collecting a lose ball but
his low shot was well held by Julian at the near post.
Mark Jones moved into the centre of the pitch for much of the second
half and just like on Tuesday night, he had a greater influence on the
game with his runs stretching the opposition.
Wrexham still continued to dominate proceedings but never looked like
making the breakthrough although a long range shot from Roche was
spilled by Julian he managed to recover before the Wrexham strikers
could pounce. Molango headed an inswinging free kick from Ferguson onto
the roof of the net although a lot in the crowd thought the ball had
gone in.
With the game heading into the last ten minutes, the Stevenage players
began to get frustrated with the lack of openings they were creating and
three of them ended up in the book in the space of five minutes for
cynical challenges as Wrexham looked to break up field. Wrexham replaced
also replaced Smith with youngster Marc Williams with fifteen minutes
left after the on loan Sunderland player's fitness levels dropped off.
Just like last week, Molango fired high and wide into the Kop when in a
good position and Mark Jones had the touches of the Molnago, when he cut
in from the right but his left footed shot went well off target.
Wrexham’s only scare came in the final minutes of the game after
Stevenage forced a corner down the left when Roche recovered well after
he was initially skinned down the wing by Dobson. The set play was taken
short and eventually swung into the area from where Morrison glanced his
header narrowly wide of the far post.
Wrexham replaced Ferguson with Mackin as the game went into four minutes
of injury time and had another scare from Stevenage moments later. For
once, the Wrexham defence looked unorganised and this allowed Stevenage
to work an opening for down the right but their striker had the same
boots as Molango when he fired hopelessly into the second tier of the
away end.
Stevenage forced another corner in stoppage time with Julian leaving his
goal to add an attacking threat. This proved to be an anti climax as
Ingham came and collected the ball comfortably. The crowd urged Ingham
to shoot at the open goal but his effort from his own six yard box went
well wide of the target!
There was still time for Molango to endanger the lives of the fans on
the Kop as he fired well over again to much amusement from the home
crowd although Molango did not see the funny side of it.
Ingham collected another shot with the game ending soon after with
Wrexham having a safe passage into the second round draw with Denis
Smith also pleased with the third successive clean sheet at home. |
|
Match Reaction |
|
Denis Smith: "I think that we were quite comfortable
even at 1-0 which is quite unusual. We should have done better though; Danny
has scored one, but possibly could have had a hat-trick in the first half.
We looked strong at the back, the keepers looked good and the back four has
looked good, they weren't giving us too many problems but at 1-0 it's always
difficult. But in cup games a win's a win no matter how you get it and
that's exactly what we got today! We've got to look at the positives, we
have only let one goal in in the last four games but we're not scoring and
that's the problem. My top goalscorer is back next week in Llewellyn and the
others are getting closer and that gives me an extra boost."
[Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Mark Stimson: "It was a difficult game for us and the
conditions were a little blustery, but from our point of view we haven't
performed like we have over the last couple of weeks. Full credit to
Wrexham, they didn't let us get the ball down and play, they worked
extremely hard. At the end they have come out worthy winners as they have
taken their chance. It was either the defensive players from Wrexham who
performed well or my frontmen who were poor; unfortunately today, my two
strikers were nowhere near it." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more] |
|
|
Wrexham |
|
Starting XI:
| 01 |
Michael Ingham |
| 02 |
Lee Roche |
| 04 |
Shaun Pejic |
| 05 |
Steve Evans |
| 15 |
Mike Williams |
| 07 |
Mark Jones
 |
| 08 |
Danny Williams
 |
| 10 |
Darren Ferguson |
| 20 |
Matty Done |
| 25 |
Kevin Smith |
| 26 |
Maheta Molango |
Subs:
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 14 |
Simon Spender |
| 16 |
Levi Mackin
 90' |
| 17 |
Josh Johnson |
| 21 |
Marc Williams
 83' |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
16 |
| Shots on Target: |
8 |
| Shots off Target: |
8 |
| Possession: |
59% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
14 |
| Corners: |
5 |
| Yellow Cards: |
1 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
|
|
Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
2,863 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham 1 Stevenage Borough 0 |
| Referee |
M Haywood (West Yorkshire) |
|
|
Other Match Reports |
|
Wrexham Dragons:
Final Whistle Podcast
BBC: Wrexham 1-0 Stevenage
TEAMtalk: Williams puts Dragons through
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Stevenage 0 |
|
Round One Results |
|
Cheltenham 0 Scunthorpe
0 (Friday)
Barrow 2 Bristol Rovers 3
Bishop's Stortford 3 King's Lynn 5
Bournemouth 4 Boston United 0
Bradford 4 Crewe 0
Brentford 0 Doncaster 1
Brighton 8 Northwich 0
Burton Albion 1 Tamworth 2
Chelmsford 1 Aldershot 1
Chesterfield 0 Basingstoke 1
Clevedon Town 1 Chester 4
Exeter 1 Stockport 2
Gainsborough 1 Barnet 3
Gillingham 4 Bromley 1
Huddersfield 0 Blackpool 1
Kettering 3 Oldham 4
Lewes 1 Darlington 4
Leyton Orient 2 Notts County 1
Mansfield 1 Accrington Stanley 0
Morecambe 2 Kidderminster 1 Newport County
1 Swansea 3
Northampton 0 Grimsby 0
Nottm Forest 5 Yeading 0
Peterborough 3 Rotherham 0
Port Vale 2 Lincoln City 1
Rochdale 1 Hartlepool 1
Rushden & Diamonds 3 Yeovil 1
Salisbury 3 Fleetwood Town 0
Shrewsbury 0 Hereford 0
Stafford Rangers 1Maidenhead United 1
Swindon 3 Carlisle 1
Torquay 2 Leatherhead 1
Tranmere 4 Woking 2
Wrexham 1 Stevenage 0
Wycombe 2 Oxford United 1
York 0 Bristol City 1
Farsley Celtic v Milton Keynes Dons
(Sunday)
Weymouth v Bury (Sunday)
Havant and W v Millwall (Monday)
Macclesfield v Walsall (Monday) |
|
Next Game |
|
Notts
County (a),
Coca Cola League 2
Saturday 18
November 2006, Kick Off @ 15:00 |
|
First
Round
74
66'