Wrexham made hard work of
the 2-1 derby win over Chester and had some nervous moments towards the
end of the game, as their hosts pulled a goal back in the final ten
minutes. The goal from Hand
proved to be a consolation as strikes either side of half time from Neil
Roberts and Mark Jones were enough for Wrexham to secure the three
points. Wrexham’s first goal came from the spot when Chester were down
to ten men but Wrexham looked very nervous at the back when Steve Evans
also took an early bath for two yellow cards in the second half.
The game started at a very slow pace with Chester just edging the
opening stages and they forced a corner within the opening minute of the
game following a clearance by Shaun Pejic. The corner was delivered deep
to the far post where Steve Evans was forced to head behind to concede
another corner with Neil Roberts clearing the next to safety.
This was the best of the opening stages with both teams effectively
cancelling each other out. Matty Done looked the most likely for Wrexham
and following a run down the left wing he won a corner that Steve Evans
headed wide at the far post.
Chester had another opportunity with twenty minutes on the clock when
Paul Linwood headed down from a corner but Pejic was on hand to hack
clear the danger.
With no shot on target in the opening stages the game exploded into life
with twenty five minuets gone with Chester finding themselves a man down
following a reckless challenge by Ricky Ravenhill, who was making his
home debut.
Ravenhill was chasing down a long through ball and with the gap between
Ingham, Pejic and the ball diminishing, the Wrexham keeper took the ball
down on his chest to cushion it back into his area to collect. Ravehhill
was at full speed and showed no signs of stopping and crashed through
the middle of Ingham, leaving the keeper on the ground and it came as no
real surprise that Ravenhill saw red for his reckless challenge.
This proved to be the turning point in the game as Wrexham dominated the
remainder of the first half but they failed to trouble Dandy in the
Chester goal with Mark Jones going the closest when he flashed a volley
wide of the far post from Done’s deep cross.
With the first half looking to be headed for a stalemate, Wrexham took
the lead that their extra possession towards the end deserved. It was a
well waited through ball from Danny Williams that sent Done clear of
Vaughan and with the Wrexham winger clear in the box, Vaughan brought
Done down from behind but surprisingly did not earn a booking for his
rash challenge. Wrexham captain Neil Roberts stepped up and tucked the
ball low into the net after Dalby dived early to his left.
Just like the start of the first half, Chester were quick out of the
blocks following half time and forced an early corner that Linwood
headed wide and moments later another shot was flashed into the arms of
Ingham from Blundell.
Despite Chester’s strong start, it was Wrexham who scored first after
the break and it was again Stephen Vaughan who was at fault when he
allowed a long ball from Steve Evans to go over him and this set Mark
Jones clear and he made no mistake with a lob over Dalby after the
Chester keeper advanced ten yards from his line.
Wrexham were now in control and should have made better of their
possession to put the game beyond Chester. Wrexham were finding a lot of
space against the Chester back line with Neil Roberts and Chris
Llewellyn winning their fair share of the balls.
Wrexham continued to dominate without ever troubling Dalby as Roberts,
Williams and Llewellyn all having half chances but they failed to
register a shot on target. With Wrexham not making the most of their
dominance the game again turned on a red card with Wrexham’s Steve Evans
this time shown his marching orders.
Evans had earlier been shown a yellow card for a late challenge at the
end of the first half and there can be no complaints about his second
after he was penalised for a shirt pull on Chris Holroyd after the
Chester player had won the ball off Evans whilst he was in control of
the situation on the touchline.
Wrexham were about to make a substitution with Mike Williams replacing
Simon Spender but rather surprisingly they continued to make the change
and this forced a complete reorganisation in the defence. Danny Williams
dropped back from midfield to partner Pejic in the centre and Mike
Williams came on at left back with Ryan Valentine swapping flanks to the
right.
Wrexham never looked comfortable with the change and they were often
over ran in midfield that comprised of Mark Jones, Matt Crowell and
Chris Llewellyn. Chester got a goal back with nine minutes left and this
proved to make it a nervous end to the game from Wrexham.
The goal came from a sliced clearance by Matt Crowell and after the
initial low cross in from the left was deflected out, James Hand was
left in acres of space from twenty five yards and he drilled a low shot
across the greasy service past Ingham into the bottom corner of the net.
Wrexham continued to look uneasy from set plays but managed to scramble
the ball clear but Ingham made a howler in the last minute of injury
time that almost gifted Chester an unlikely point.
Chester delivered a high hanging ball
into the box that Ingham simply came and missed. The ball fell kindly to
Chester’s Paul Linwood but from about twelve yards out he could only
shoot straight at Danny Williams on the line and he managed to clear the
danger to secure all three points for Wrexham. |