Wrexham 1

Matt Crowell 80'

Rochdale 1

Chris Dagnall 40'

North West Area Round One

Tuesday 17 October 2006

Kick Off @ 19:45

  Rochdale win 5-3 on penalties

Match Report

Wrexham’s stay in this season’s Johnstone’s Paint trophy ended at the first hurdle after a clinical Rochdale sided scored all five of their penalties against Wrexham’s three after the opening ninety minutes ended one a piece.

Both teams scored late in each half with deflected goals although Wrexham were denied what looked to be a clear goal in the second half after the Dale keeper dropped a cross with the ball appearing to cross the line.

Wrexham would have regained some confidence from this performance with the return of Danny Williams boosting the physical make up of the side in the vital midfield role. With Neil Roberts ruled out from injury Wrexham did appear to be lightweight up front and despite all their possession there was insufficient numbers in the box when a decent ball came in from Josh Johnson who featured on the right wing.

Mark Jones had one of his better games of late and looked more suited to his free role in the centre of the park and had some trademark shots in the second half that troubled the Rochdale keeper.

The opening chance of the game came when Johnson picked out Danny Williams but he dragged his hot wide from the edge of the area on his weaker left foot.

Wrexham had the better of the opening ten minutes with Josh Johnson looking promising early on and the Trinidadian winger delivered in some quality inswinging balls into the box but there was never any danger of a red shirt getting on the end of them.

The best Rochdale had to offer in the opening fifteen minutes was when Josh Johnson was harshly penalised for blocking off Modise when chasing back well down the Wrexham right but Ingham collected the deep cross comfortably.

James Sharp was rather unfortunate to find himself in the book midway through the first half when Josh Johnson appeared to run straight into the Rochdale left back after losing possession of the ball. Wrexham failed to make most of the free kick with the cross from Mark Jones coming no nothing but moments later a snap shot from Llewellyn flew straight into the arms of the keeper.

Rochdale managed to get a strangle hold on the game with the half hour mark and limited the supply out wide to Johnson and Done was having another quiet game down the left. Llewellyn was always looking for the ball but this was mainly with his back to goal and Wrexham found it difficult to penetrate the stubborn Rochdale defence.

With Rochdale now in control of the game, they were starting to pick out gaps in the Wrexham defence and Ingham did well to dive low to his left to collect a low shot from Gary Jones, although for one nervous moment you thought the ball was going to slip underneath his body. Ingham was then back pedalling as a Gary Jones cross from the left ended up on the roof of the net.

At the other end of the pitch, Mark Jones had a shot on goal from outside of the area and his effort cleared the cross bar in front of the small number of Rochdale supporters.

Ingham then had to come off his line to clear with a sliding challenge at the feet of Modise, as a through ball from Doolan looked to have carved open the Wrexham defence.

Done then broke clear down the left but after cutting in from the flank his right footed shot was well held by Gilks who made a comfortable save with a dive at his near post.

The opening goal of the game came five minutes before half time when Mark Jones lost possession of the ball ten yards inside his own half. Rochdale worked the ball to the edge of the area with Chris Dagnall’s low shot taking a deflection off Craig Morgan and the ball wrong footed Ingham as it nestled in the bottom corner of the net.

Gary Jones had a hopeful effort from thirty five yards but he was in no danger of doubling Rochdale’s lead with his shot going wide of the six yard box, as the first half ended with visitors one goal to the good.

There were no changes during half time from either side with Wrexham forcing the first chance five minutes after the restart. Good play from Johnson down the right touchline worked himself into space and he picked out Danny Williams free in the box with the cross, but the diving header from Williams took a deflection and when the rebound was fired in it deflected into the arms of a grateful Gilks.

Wrexham’s positive start to the second period continued with Steve Evans heading over from a Crowell corner and Johnson had penalty appeals for a handball turned down when his cross was blocked inside of the area.

Llewellyn then earned a corner down the left with a clever flick over the defender and this was quickly taken to Done. The cross from Done appeared to be a routine catch for Gilks but he dropped the ball whilst under no pressure and looked clearly behind the line when he turned it out of the net. The referee even had his whistle in the mouth, ready to award the goal, but there was no movement from his assistant with much anger and disbelief from the home crowd.

Wrexham continued to probe and Llewellyn went close with a glancing header but the home side were grateful to brilliant defending from Valentine to keep Wrexham in the game.

Steve Evans came charging out of defence for a clearance that he was never in control of and Dagnall found himself clean through on goal when the ball was returned back down the middle by Gary Jones. Dagnall appeared to over hit his touch but still managed to round Ingham and it took a brilliant diving header from Valentine to deny a certain goal at the expense of a corner.

Mark Jones was coming more influential in the game with Rochdale struggling to pick up the Wrexham midfielder. A good run from Jones, initially down the left touchline, resulted in Jones cutting in to the edge of the box but his shot went straight at Gilks.

Jones then popped up down the right wing but after playing in Johnson the shot from the winger lacked any purpose and Rochdale easily cleared.

Wrexham then had a lucky escape when Modise drove in a low shot that flashed across the face of goal and rebounded off Dagnall, who was unmarked inside of the six yard box, into the arms on Ingham at the near post.

Wrexham got the equaliser their second half display deserved with ten minutes of the game left. It came in much similar fashion to the opening goal of the game following a break by Jones down the left side of the area. He picked out Danny Williams on the edge of the area and his dummy allowed Crowell to shoot with his effort also deflecting off a defender to wrong foot the keeper for the equaliser.

There was still time for Wrexham to go in search of the equaliser and within a minute Done went close with a left shot that just missed the top corner of the near post.

Rochdale almost hit Wrexham with a sucker punch when a ball from the left picked out substitute Sako in the box but his shot on the turn went straight into the arms of Ingham.

Wrexham lost the services of Johnson in injury time with Newby replacing the winger and there was still time left for both teams to force corners although both came no nothing and the game ended one each.

After a short delay for the start of the penalty shoot out, up stepped Gary Jones to send Ingham the wrong way and Valentine responded for Wrexham with a virtually identical penalty.

Ingham almost got to Doolan’s penalty with a dive to his right but Gilks did managed to palm away Llewellyn’s spot kick to give Rochdale a crucial 2-1 lead in the shoot out.

Goodall then put Rochdale 3-1 up and Done responded for Wrexham but Sako’s kick went in off the bar, which meant Danny Williams had to score to keep Wrexham in the tie.

Williams did this in emphatic fashion but Dagnall made it five out of five for Rochdale to send them into the second round.

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
03 Ryan Valentine
06 Craig Morgan
05 Steve Evans
15 Mike Williams
07 Mark Jones
12 Matt Crowell
08 Danny Williams
20 Matty Done
17 Josh Johnson 90'
11 Chris Llewellyn

Subs:

13 Michael Jones (GK)
14 Simon Spender
16 Levi Mackin
18 Jon Newby 90'
24 Gareth Evans

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 12
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 6
Possession: 67%
Fouls Conceded: 7
Corners: 3
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Rochdale

Starting XI:

01 Matthew Gilkes
02 Simon Ramsen
21 James Sharp
06 Jonathon Boardman
12 Alan Goodall
08 Gary Jones
19 Lee Crooks 83'
05 John Dolan
20 Clive Moyo-Modise 85'
09 Chris Dagnall
16 Keith Barker

Subs:

04 Ernie Cooksey 83'
11 Adam Rundle
15 Joe Thompson
25 Theo Coleman
26 Morike Sako 85'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 9
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 5
Possession: 33%
Fouls Conceded: 10
Corners: 4
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes

Venue Racecourse Ground
Attendance 1,209
Half Time Wrexham 0 Rochdale 1
Referee Mark Haywood (Leeds)

Other Match Reports

Wrexham Dragons: Final Whistle Podcast


BBC: Wrexham 1-1 Rochdale


TEAMtalk: Dragons Crash Out


Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Rochdale 1 Lost 5-3 on Pens

Round One Results

Northern Section (West):
Accrington Stanley 1 Carlisle 1 (pens 3-1)

Bury 0 Tranmere 2

Macclesfield 0 Stockport 1
Wrexham 1 Rochdale 1 (pens 3-5)

Northern Section (East):
Bradford 1 Scunthorpe 2
Hartlepool 3 Rotherham 1
Huddersfield 1 Doncaster 2
Lincoln 0 Grimsby 0 (pens 3-5)

Southern Section (West):

Bristol Rovers 1 Torquay 0

Hereford 1 Shrewsbury 2
Walsall 1 Swansea 1 (pens 3-4)
Wycombe 1 Swindon 0

Southern Section (East):
Brighton 2 Boston 0
Gillingham 1 Notts Forest 2

Northampton 0 Brentford 0
Notts County 0 Barnet 1

Next Game

Mansfield Town (a), Coca Cola League 2

Saturday 21 October 2006, Kick Off @ 5:00