|
Match Report |
Wrexham recorded the first home win of
2007 courtesy of a Neil Roberts strike eleven minutes before the end and
the goal could not have been timelier, as Boston and Bury recorded wins
to keep it tight down at the bottom of League Two.
Wrexham dominated Conference bound Torquay but failed to make the most
of the clear cut chances created in the first half, which meant the
tension from the crowd affected the players in what was a nervous second
half.
But all the nerves were gone when substitute Roberts turned in Simon
Spender’s cross at the near post to send the 6,000 Racecourse crowd into
wild celebrations.
Brian Carey kept faith with the side that dismantled Lincoln last
weekend and it was Wrexham who started the game positively as we went in
search for a crucial early goal.
Chris Llewellyn was lively early on, often cutting in from the right
wing and was the first to try his luck with a left footed goal bound
shot that rebounded off Proctor and wide of the target.
The best Torquay could offer in the opening stages was a long range shot
from Lee Mansell but it was a comfortable save for Anthony Williams at
his hear post.
Danny Williams and Jeff Whitley were winning every ball in midfield and
this allowed the high tempo play from Wrexham to continue.
Chris Llewellyn was looking the most dangerous player and he again cut
in from the right wing and this time his left footed shot from just
outside of the area just was superbly tipped around the far post by
Rayner although the referee awarded a goal kick!
Le McEvilly then got to the touchline down the right but his cross was
too deep although Proctor did well to recover the situation. He supplied
Ryan Valentine who picked out Danny Williams six yards out but the
midfielder flicked his shot wide of the near post.
It this was a bad miss, it was nothing compared to McEvilly’s chance
just minutes later.Done’s positive run down the
left wing took him to the edge of the area from where he picked out
Proctor just inside of the box. Proctor did well to turn on the ball and
picked out McEvilly in space just six yards out but his shot was too
close to Rayner who managed to deflect the ball wide of the far post.
The game was still not twenty minutes old when Wrexham’s appeals for a
penalty were waived away after Done appeared to be tugged back on the
touchline by Andrews.
Wrexham’s tempo then dropped and Torquay went close just after the hour
mark when a good move resulted in Matthew Hockley firing wide of the
near post and this did spark Wrexham back into life with Proctor having
a shot cleared off the line after Spender’s long throw was flicked on at
the near post.
With the half almost over, Wrexham went close when the impressive
Proctor delivered a deep cross to the far post and Llewellyn was denied
when Rayner turned his header around the post and the resulting corner
was headed wide by McEvilly.
The second half had nowhere near the excitement of the first half and
the frustration in the crowd grew as Wrexham reverted to some aimless
balls out from defence that often drifted through to the keeper or out
for a goal kick.
With no meaningful incident at either end, Wrexham made the first change
when rather surprisingly Michael Proctor replaced Neil Roberts. The
crowd were not happy with this move, as Proctor had shown a lot more
effort than his strike partner McEvilly.
It did not take too long for club Captain Roberts to be involved in the
thick of the action when he flicked a ball from the right into the path
of McEvilly but despite have a clear run on goal, he disappointingly
fired straight at Rayner from the edge of the area.
Wrexham were then denied by the woodwork when the Torquay defence could
only half clear a cross from Spender and Whitley fired in a first time
volley from twenty five yards that dropped onto the cross bar with
Rayner in the Torquay goal just standing there watching like a
spectator.
The game’s only booking came when Lee Thorpe squared up with Steve Evans
who did well not to react to the provocation and Torquay fired two
warning shots when Thorpe fired over and Pejic did enough to put Cook
off as he headed over from inside the six yard box.
McEvilly did well turning his man in midfield but his well struck long
range shot was never troubling Rayner who made another comfortable save.
Josh Johnson was ready to come on but Wrexham got the crucial
breakthrough with just over ten minutes left and his services were no
longer required.
Chris Llewellyn collected the ball just inside the Torquay half and he
set Simon Spender free down the right. Spender had the time and space to
measure a perfect cross for Neil Roberts who escaped his marker and
flick the ball past Rayner at the near post.
Once the celebrations calmed down, Torquay made two late substitutions
and Wrexham wound the clock down when Levi Mackin replaced Danny
Williams as the game went into three minutes of injury time.
There were no scares during added time and Wrexham ran out comfortable
winners and this was the first time we have recorded back-to-back wins
in the league since February 2006. |
|
Match Reaction |
|
Brian Carey: "It was a great home win and I'm
delighted. That's all we've got to do and we've just got to keep at it. We
had a lot of chances early on but the longer it went on to at 0-0 the
tension grew but understandably so. I'm sure everybody thought it was going
to be one of those days when we didn't score again but we did. There is a
lot of tension around at the moment but the players know what is going and
credit to them they stuck in there, Neil is a big player for us. I just had
to get him on the pitch, Michael Proctor was very unlucky to come off, but
Neil has come on and scored the goal. Michael Proctor was absolutely
terrific today, he was a big player for us and was very unlucky to be the
one to come off but I had to get the captain on the pitch as he means that
much to us. We didn't play great today but it's still three points. You're
always hoping to get the goal and thankfully we were the ones who got it
today. It couldn't have come at a better time."
[Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Keith Curle: |
|
|
Wrexham |
|
Starting XI:
| 33 |
Anthony Williams |
| 14 |
Simon Spender |
| 04 |
Shaun Pejic |
| 05 |
Steve Evans |
| 03 |
Ryan Valentine |
| 11 |
Chris Llewellyn |
| 08 |
Danny Williams
90' |
| 32 |
Jeff Whitley |
| 20 |
Matty Done |
| 18 |
Michael Proctor
60' |
| 09 |
Lee McEvilly |
Subs:
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 15 |
Mike Williams |
| 16 |
Levi Mackin
90' |
| 17 |
Josh Johnson |
| 23 |
Neil Roberts
60'
 |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
13 |
| Shots on Target: |
7 |
| Shots off Target: |
6 |
| Possession: |
55% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
14 |
| Corners: |
4 |
| Yellow Cards: |
0 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
|
|
Torquay United |
|
Starting XI:
| 01 |
Simon Rayner |
| 02 |
Lee Andrews |
| 18 |
Steve Woods |
| 23 |
Chris Robertson |
| 30 |
Mark Robinson |
| 26 |
David Graham
90' |
| 04 |
Matthew Hockley |
| 10 |
Lee Mansell |
| 09 |
Lee Thorpe
 |
| 15 |
Stephen Cooke |
| 19 |
Chris McPhee
85' |
Subs:
| 11 |
Kevin Hill |
| 17 |
Stevland Angus |
| 20 |
Martin Horsell (GK) |
| 27 |
Ryan Dickson
90' |
| 28 |
Reuben Reid
85' |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
5 |
| Shots on Target: |
3 |
| Shots off Target: |
2 |
| Possession: |
45% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
13 |
| Corners: |
2 |
| Yellow Cards: |
1 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
|
|
Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
6,057 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham 0 Torquay United
0 |
| Referee |
Russell Booth (Notts) |
|
|
Match Timeline |
|
|
71' |
Lee Thorpe (Torquay
United) |
|
|
79' |
Neil Roberts (Wrexham) |
|
|
Other Match Reports |
|
Wrexham Dragons: Final Whistle
Podcast
BBC:
Wrexham 1-0 Torquay
TEAMtalk: Roberts keeps Dragons afloat
Wales
on Sunday: Neil's a real genius
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Torquay United 0
Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Torquay United 0 |
|
League 2 Results |
|
Hartlepool 1 Notts County
1 (Friday)
Boston Utd 1 Chester 0
Bristol Rovers 0 Lincoln City 0
Darlington 3 Wycombe 2
Grimsby 5 Barnet 0
Peterborough 3 Hereford 0
Rochdale 5 Macclesfield 0
Shrewsbury 2 Accrington Stanley 1
Stockport 1 Milton Keynes Dons 2
Swindon 2 Mansfield 0
Walsall 0 Bury 1
Wrexham 1 Torquay 0 |
|
League 2 Table |
| |
|
PLD
|
GD
|
PTS
|
|
1 |
Hartlepool
(Promoted) |
44 |
28 |
88 |
|
2 |
Walsall
(Promoted) |
44 |
31 |
85 |
|
3 |
Swindon (Play
Offs) |
44 |
21 |
84 |
|
4 |
Milton Keynes Dons
(P/Offs) |
44 |
14 |
78 |
|
5 |
Lincoln City |
44 |
9 |
70 |
|
6 |
Shrewsbury |
43 |
22 |
67 |
|
7 |
Stockport |
44 |
6 |
67 |
| 8 |
Peterborough |
44 |
9 |
63 |
| 9 |
Bristol Rovers |
43 |
4 |
63 |
| 10 |
Rochdale |
44 |
18 |
62 |
| 11 |
Wycombe |
44 |
8 |
62 |
| 12 |
Darlington |
44 |
0 |
62 |
| 13 |
Notts County |
44 |
3 |
61 |
| 14 |
Grimsby |
44 |
-16 |
57 |
| 15 |
Barnet |
44 |
-15 |
56 |
| 16 |
Hereford |
44 |
-7 |
54 |
| 17 |
Chester |
44 |
-6 |
52 |
| 18 |
Mansfield |
44 |
-6 |
50 |
| 19 |
Bury |
44 |
-15 |
48 |
| 20 |
Accrington Stanley |
44 |
-10 |
47 |
| 21 |
Macclesfield |
43 |
-20 |
47 |
| 22 |
Wrexham |
43 |
-24 |
45 |
|
23 |
Boston United |
44 |
-27 |
45 |
|
24 |
Torquay
(Relegated) |
44 |
-27 |
33 |
|
|
Next Game |
|
Shrewsbury
Town (a),
Coca Cola League 2
Tuesday 24
April 2007, Kick Off @ 19:45 |
|
