Wrexham 1

Chris Llewellyn 64'

Hartlepool United 1

Richard Barker 8'

Saturday 20 January 2007

 

Kick Off @ 15:00



Match Report

A much improved second half display from Wrexham was enough to earn a point against a Hartlepool side that had won 10 out of their last 11 games.

Hartlepool started the game strongly, with Wrexham struggling to get going, and the away team took an early advantage but Chris Llewellyn grabbed the equaliser in the second half against his former club after being set up by Matty Done, who turned the game in Wrexham’s favour following his introduction as a second half substitute.

Brian Carey only made one change from the team that battled well at Swindon with Gareth Evans replacing the injurred Steve Evans at the heart of the defence after he was ruled out with a broken nose sustained last week.

Gareth Evans failed to deal with his first task of the game when he could not head clear beyond the penalty area and this resulted in Hartlepool opening the scoring after just eight minutes with Richard Barker side footing home from close range after he was picked out by James Brown.

Wrexham looked nervous at the back and almost found themselves two down within the open fifteen minutes when Ingham was at full stretch to turn a side footed effort from Barker around the post after the Hartlepool striker was afforded too much space on the edge of the area. From the resulting corner, Lee Roche did well to clear off the line as frustration in the stands grew.

Wrexham were struggling to create any chances of note and had to wait until the end of the first half to register their first meaningful shot on target when Lee McEvilly fired in a low left footed effort from just outside of the area that Konstantopoulos turned around his post for a corner, which was claimed by the Hartlepool goalkeeper.

McEvilly again threatened for Wrexham when he virtually attempted to barge his way through the Hartlepool defence but after getting inside the area, he toe poked wide of the far post as Wrexham headed in for half time a goal down.

There were no changes at half time and Wrexham had a lucky escape early on when Valentine this timed cleared off his line after Richard Barker glanced a header from a corner goalwards.

Brian Carey made the first change of the afternoon with Simon Spender being replaced by Matty Done with nine minutes of the second half gone. This change swung the game in Wrexham’s favour with Done always an outlet down the left and after switching flanks, Chris Llewellyn found himself more involved in the game down the right.

Done made an early impact when he escaped the presence of Liddell and Barron down the left but he failed to trouble Konstantopoulos with a tame shot at the Hartlepool stopper.

Done continued to look dangerous but lacked the final ball, although Wrexham did have a good chance when the winger was brought down out on the left and Llewellyn whipped in a dangerous free kick that Konstantopoulos claimed after the ball travelled through a crowd of bodies.

A rare attack from Hartlepool almost put paid to Wrexham’s endeavours in the second half when Pejic made a mistake but Sweeney failed to capitalise of this error when he fired wide of Ingham’s left hand post.

This miss proved to be crucial as Wrexham were celebrating the equaliser their second half performance richly deserved in the 64th minute.

It was no surprise that Done was involved in the goal after he was played in by Valentine down the left and the young Wrexham winger this time delivered with the final ball when he picked out Chris Llewellyn at the far post who slammed in from close range.

The goal was no more that Wrexham deserved and if anything they looked like the side that would go on to take all three points, as Hartlepool were clearly rattled at the back.

The performance and goal clearly lifted the crowd as Done again continued to torment Hartlepool with Konstantopoulos requiring two attempts to gather a well struck long range shot from the lively winger.

Wrexham’s attacks were not just coming down the left with Llewellyn also delivering quality balls in on either foot down the right and one of theses crosses should have resulted in Wrexham’s second goal but Marc Williams literally took the ball off the head of McEvilly when his strike partner was well positioned.

Hartlepool were getting more desperate with Wrexham dominating midfield where Mitchell and Williams combined well to break up what little play the away side at.

A sign of this was when Clark put too much power on a header back to Konstantopoulos and the keeper failed to prevent the ball going out for a corner. Llewellyn delivered another good ball in and this time McEvilly was denied when his header was cleared off the line.

Konstantopoulos then required two attempts to claim a powerful shot from Marc Williams with McEvilly close to getting to the ball first and the Wrexham number 9 pulled a free kick wide of the near post, although his shot lacked any power to this time trouble the overworked Hartlepool ‘keeper.

A good run from Valentine earned another corner for Wrexham and this caused a scramble at the near post but Wrexham were unable to force the ball in as Hartlepool cleared.

Wrexham appeared to take their foot of f the gas in the final five minutes and this resulted in Hartlepool having opportunities towards the end but Wrexham required some desperate defending to keep the game at 1-1 throughout the three minutes of injury time.

Match Reaction

Brian Carey: "We definitely could have won it, I think the forty minutes that we put-in in the second-half, take the last five out of that. I think the forty minutes that was the way that we want to play. I spoke to the players about it during the week and that is how we want to go about it. We had enough chances to have won it, they've had chances themselves but we could have snuck it in the end. I don't think that we dealt with the conditions too well in the first half, I was a little bit disappointed with how we went about it initially. We regrouped at half-time, regained our composure, they went about it like we asked them too in the second-half. They've showed what they are capable of in that forty minutes and I'm a little disappointed with the result to be truthful. The fans really got behind us in the second half when they were terrific, but I really wanted that from the start. That is very important here, that is vital here, because you need the crowd here helping you but to do that we need to give them something to shout about which we didn't do in the first-half and I was most disappointed with that. Once we got a goal, and we showed a little bit at the end of the first half, the crowd were on their feet. In the second half the crowd were magnificent and that's vital." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]

 

Danny Wilson: "It was always going to be a difficult game. The situation they're in, they weren't going to lie down and let us tickle their bellies. I thought we had chances to make it 2-0 but didn't take them and fair play to Wrexham, they built up a head of steam and got back into it. Richie Barker scored a great goal and that's what he is capable of.I'm sure they feel that their goal was a good one too - it wasn't from my point of view, but I'm glad we got out of this with a point." [Source: Hartlepool United FC]

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
02 Lee Roche
04 Shaun Pejic
24 Gareth Evans
03 Ryan Valentine
14 Simon Spender 54'
08 Danny Williams
18 Paul Mitchell
11 Chris Llewellyn
09 Lee McEvilly
21 Marc Williams

Subs:

13 Michael Ingham (GK)
16 Levi Mackin
17 Josh Johnson
20 Matty Done 54'
27 Jamie Reed

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 13
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 7
Possession: 55%
Fouls Conceded: 13
Corners: 6
Yellow Cards: 2
Red Cards: 0

Hartlepool United

Starting XI:

01 Dimitrios Konstantopoulos
02 Mickey Barron 65'
06 Ben Clark
18 Gary Liddle
08 Ritchie Humphreys
35 Andy Monkhouse 77'
16 Lee Bullock
15 Antony Sweeney
20 James Brown
11 Eifion Williams 56'
10 Richard Barker

Subs:

03 Matty Robson 46'
21 Jim Provett (GK)
23 Darren Williams 65'
24 Alistair Gibb 77'
28 David Foley

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 7
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 3
Possession: 45%
Fouls Conceded: 8
Corners: 5
Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes

Venue Racecourse Ground
Attendance 3,828
Half Time Wrexham 0 Hartlepool United 1
Referee G Salisbury

Other Match Reports

Wrexham Dragons: Final Whistle Podcast


BBC: Wrexham 1-1 Hartlepool


Hartlepool United FC: All Square


TEAMtalk: Carey gets off the mark


Wales on Sunday: Llew's a baeuty as Reds hit back


Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Hartlepool United 1


Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Hartlepool United 1

League 2 Results

Friday:
Shrewsbury v Rochdale - Match Postponed


Saturday:
Boston United 1 Swindon 3
Bristol Rovers 0 Chester 0
Bury 2 Lincoln City 2
Grimsby 0 Darlington 1
Macclesfield 3 Hereford 0
Mansfield 2 Walsall 1
Milton Keynes Dons 3 Barnet 1
Notts County 5 Torquay 2
Peterborough 0 Stockport 3
Wrexham 1 Hartlepool 1
Wycombe 1 Accrington Stanley 1

League 2 Table

   
PLD
GD
PTS
1 Walsall 28 26 59
2 Swindon 28 16 56
3 Milton Keynes Dons 29 16 55
4 Lincoln City 29 17 53
5 Hartlepool 29 12 52
6 Wycombe 29 8 47
7 Stockport 28 5 41
8 Notts County 28 4 41
9 Bristol Rovers 28 0 40
10 Peterborough 28 -5 38
11 Shrewsbury 27 11 37
12 Chester 28 0 37
13 Darlington 28 -2 37
14 Hereford 28 -5 37
15 Barnet 28 -7 37
16 Bury 28 0 36
17 Mansfield 27 -4 33
18 Accrington Stanley 29 -8 30
19 Boston United 29 -14 30
20 Macclesfield 28 -8 29
21 Wrexham 27 -17 29
22 Grimsby 29 -24 29
23 Rochdale 28 -2 28
24 Torquay 28 -19 21

Next Game

Darlington (a), Coca Cola League 2

Saturday 27 January 2007, Kick Off Time