Chester City 1

James Hand 81'

Wrexham 2

Neil Roberts 42' (p) Mark Jones 52'

Sunday 20 August 2006

 

Kick Off @ 12:00



Match Report

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.

Match Reaction

Denis Smith: "If anyone doesn't understand what a local means to people, then they only had to be here today. We had nine Welshmen in the side and you could see how much it meant to them and our supporters!" [Source: Wrexham AFC]

Chester City

Starting XI:

12 John Danby
19 Paul Linwood
18 Ashley Westwood 45'
21 David Artell
17 Laurence Wilson
23 Ricky Ravenhill
07 James Hand
20 Roberto Martinez
04 Stephen Vaughan
14 Jonathon Walters 75'
09 Gregg Blundell 75'

Subs:

02 Simon Marples 45'
10 Drewe Broughton 75'
27 Chris Holroyd 75'
32 Paul Rutherford
33 Philip Palenthorpe (GK)

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 9
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 3
Possession: 48%
Fouls Conceded: 12
Corners: 10
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 1

Wrexham

Starting XI:

01 Michael Ingham
14 Simon Spender 77'
04 Shaun Pejic
05 Steve Evans
03 Ryan Valentine
07 Mark Jones
08 Danny Williams
12 Matt Crowell
20 Matty Done 65'
23 Neil Roberts
11 Chris Llewellyn

Subs:

13 Michael Jones (GK)
15 Mike Williams 77'
16 Levi Mackin
17 Josh Johnson
18 Jon Newby 65'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 9
Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 6
Possession: 52%
Fouls Conceded: 13
Corners: 5
Yellow Cards: 2
Red Cards: 1

Match Notes

Venue Saunders Honda Stadium
Attendance 4,206
Half Time Chester City 0 Wrexham 1
Referee Uriah Rennie (Sheffield)

Other Match Reports

BBC: Chester 1-2 Wrexham


Chester City FC: Derby day frustration for City


TEAMtalk: Dragons hold on as two players see red


Wrexham AFC: Chester City 1 Wrexham 2


Wrexham MAD: Chester City 1 Wrexham 2

League 2 Results

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

League 2 Table

   
PLD
GD
PTS
1 Swindon 4 4 12
2 Peterborough 4 6 10
3 Walsall 4 5 10
4 Milton Keynes Dons 4 3 9
5 Shrewsbury 4 6 8
6 Wrexham 4 4 8
7 Lincoln City 4 2 8
8 Notts County 4 2 8
9 Wycombe 4 3 7
10 Torquay 4 1 7
11 Darlington 4 2 6
12 Chester 4 1 6
13 Mansfield 4 1 6
14 Hereford 4 0 6
15 Grimsby 4 -3 4
16 Accrington Stanley 4 -3 4
17 Barnet 4 0 3
18 Boston United 4 -4 3
19 Bristol Rovers 4 -5 3
20 Hartlepool 4 -3 2
21 Stockport 4 -4 2
22 Macclesfield 4 -7 1
23 Rochdale 4 -4 0
24 Bury 4 -7 0

Next Game

Sheffield Wednesday (a), Carling Cup Round 1

Wednesday 23 August 2006, Kick Off : 19:45