|
Match Report |
Wrexham ended 2006 at the Racecourse
with a hard thought victory with a d deflected goal midway through the
first half.
Darlington had the better of the opening exchanges but the crucial goal
came when Llewellyn found himself with a clear run on goal and his pass
to strike partner Marc Williams was deflected in to his own net by
Darren Holloway for a soft goal.
Wrexham were forced into making one late change to the side that drew
with league leaders Walsall last week after Shaun Pejic failed a late
fitness test and this resulted in Gareth Evans starting in Pejic’s place
to form an inexperienced back two alongside Mike Williams.
A positive run by former Wrexham winger Neil Wainwright created the
game’s first opportunity for himself with a run down the Wrexham left
but Ingham made a comfortable diving save.
Wrexham’s first offering came following a corner won by youngster Marc
Williams who did a lot of work up front without ever looking likely to
score. The corner was only partially cleared and Llewellyn had his shot
blocked away by the Darlington defence.
The game was still inside ten minutes when Ingham had to run out of his
area but was unable to find touch with a poor header. The ball fell to
the feet of Wainwright who passed on a shot at an empty goal but instead
picked out Simon Johnson with a quality ball with the experienced
striker heading well over the Wrexham bar.
Darlington continued to dominate the early proceedings with Wrexham
struggling to cross the halfway line but the inexperienced back two of
Gareth Evans and Mike Williams were coping well with the balls forward.
Ingham again had to come off his line to punch Wainwright’s cross away
after Wrexham left a Darlington player in space on the far side of the
area.
A rare attack from Wrexham earned the second corner of the afternoon
after Josh Johnson made good progress down the right wing. Ferguson
curled the set play in that Darlington cleared at the expense of another
corner, which was eventually cleared.
Two minutes later and Wrexham were celebrating the opening goal of the
game in the nineteenth minute. Darlington failed to deal with the long
ball forward out of defence that was flicked on by marc Williams into
the path of Chris Llewellyn. Llewellyn advanced into the area but his shooting chance was closed down by keeper David Stockdale. Llewellyn
had Marc Williams up in support and his square pass to his strike
partner looked like it would be cut out but Holloway could only deflect
the ball into an empty net.
Wrexham did pick up following the goal with Matty Done in particular
finding himself in space down the left wing but Done always struggled to
beet his man with the cross, but on the plus side the corner count did
pick up as a result.
From one of these corners, Marc Williams was almost celebrating his
first professional goal when he headed Ferguson’s cross into the ground
but Stockdale reacted well to tip over the bar at the far post.
It was not Holloway’s day as the Darlington defender left the field just
before the half hour mark with concussion to be replaced by David Duke
with the Quakers going close in the next attack but Johnson again failed
with a header.
Done had a spell on the sidelines, assumingly for a blood incident, as
he returned in a shirt with no number on his back. Done did go close to
extending Wrexham’s lead when he returned by cutting in off his left
touch line but he pulled his shot wide of the near post from the edge of
the area.
Darlington should have been celebrating the equaliser on the stroke of
half time after Gareth Evans allowed himself to be turned by Johnson in
the box but Ingham reacted well by sticking out his leg to divert the
shot behind for a corner.
Both sides made no changes during the half time break with the second
half following a similar pattern to the first. Wrexham started slowly
after the break but the lead never looked to be in any danger with
Darlington struggling to record any serious attempts on Ingham’s goal.
Done again continued to force corners with Wrexham fast approaching
double figures and from one of Ferguson's cross, Danny Williams powered a
header goalwards that Stockdale struggled to gather on his line.
The Wrexham goal did live dangerously for a fifteen minute spell with
Ingham pulling off a good save to deny Smith with the Wrexham keeper blocking his shot only to see Keltie fire the
rebound hopelessly over the bar.
By this point, Darlington had replaced former Wrexham winger Neil
Wainwright with Alun Armstrong coming on after 55 minutes. Armstrong
combined well to set Joachim up and for the first time in the game he got
away from Gareth Evans but the Wrexham defender put the striker under
enough pressure to shoot wide with Ingham doing well to narrow down the
shooting angle.
Just like last week, Lee McEvilly replaced Josh Johnson midway through
the second half and just in time for another Wrexham corner, which was
well cleared by the Darlington defence.
Dave Penney made another change as the game went into the final ten
minutes and there were some nervous moments with Wrexham only having a
slender one goal lead.
But with Darlington only forcing a couple of corners, Wrexham dealt with
these comfortably but the final whistle was well received by the home
crowd as Wrexham ended the last home game of 2006 with a welcome three
points. |
|
Match Reaction |
|
Denis Smith: "The three points were vital, when you
look at the team I had to turn out I think that we were pushing our look to
get them. I thought that the lads applied themselves well, with possibly the
youngest centre-half pairing we have had at this club I would imagine and I
thought that they did tremendously well. If you look at the side it is
obviously patched up, Shaun Pejic failing a fitness test before the game but
fortunately Chris Llewellyn came through because otherwise we would have
been even younger. I'm pleased to get the three points, it is a good way to
start the festive season off, and at least we'll have a good Christmas Day
anyway." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Dave Penney: “I thought going forward we were
excellent but we can’t defend for toffee at the moment. It was a horrendous
goal to concede. It was just a long ball through the middle which we didn’t
deal with it and we let it bounce, it gets across him and goes in as an own
goal. Defensively we are not on top of our game but other than that I
thought we were the better team." [Source:
Darlington FC - lick here for more] |
|
|
Wrexham |
|
Starting XI:
| 01 |
Michael Ingham |
| 02 |
Lee Roche |
| 24 |
Gareth Evans
 |
| 15 |
Mike Williams |
| 03 |
Ryan Valentine |
| 17 |
Josh Johnson
68' |
| 08 |
Danny Williams |
| 10 |
Darren Ferguson |
| 20 |
Matty Done |
| 21 |
Marc Williams |
| 11 |
Chris Llewellyn |
Subs:
| 09 |
Lee McEvilly
68' |
| 12 |
Matt Crowell |
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 16 |
Levi Mackin |
| 28 |
Alex Darlington |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
8 |
| Shots on Target: |
3 |
| Shots off Target: |
5 |
| Possession: |
54% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
12 |
| Corners: |
8 |
| Yellow Cards: |
1 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
|
|
Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
3,401 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham Darlington |
| Referee |
Ray Olivier (West Midlands) |
|
|
Other Match Reports |
|
Wrexham Dragons: Final Whistle
Podcast
BBC:
Wrexham 1-0 Darlington
TEAMtalk: Depleted Dragons edge out Darlo
Wales
on Sunday: Present and correct
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Darlington 0
Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Darlington 0 |
|
League 2 Results |
|
Grimsby 2
Torquay 0 (Friday)
Mansfield v Chester - Match Postponed (Friday)
Notts County 0 Hereford 1 (Friday)
Shrewsbury 0 Barnet 1 (Friday)
Boston United 1 Walsall 1
Bristol Rovers 4 Accrington 0
Bury 0 Hartlepool 1
Macclesfield 2 Swindon 1
Milton Keynes Dons 2 Rochdale 1
Peterborough 1 Lincoln City 2
Wrexham 1 Darlington 0
Wycombe 2 Stockport 0 |
|
League 2 Table |
|
|
|
PLD
|
GD
|
PTS
|
|
1 |
Walsall |
23 |
22 |
49 |
|
2 |
Milton Keynes Dons |
23 |
11 |
45 |
|
3 |
Lincoln City |
23 |
16 |
44 |
|
4 |
Swindon |
23 |
11 |
43 |
|
5 |
Wycombe |
23 |
9 |
41 |
|
6 |
Hartlepool |
23 |
7 |
38 |
|
7 |
Peterborough |
23 |
4 |
38 |
| 8 |
Notts County |
23 |
3 |
34 |
| 9 |
Bury |
23 |
1 |
32 |
| 10 |
Hereford |
23 |
-2 |
32 |
| 11 |
Bristol Rovers |
23 |
-2 |
31 |
| 12 |
Chester |
22 |
4 |
30 |
| 13 |
Darlington |
23 |
-2 |
30 |
| 14 |
Shrewsbury |
22 |
9 |
29 |
| 15 |
Stockport |
23 |
-3 |
29 |
| 16 |
Grimsby |
23 |
-10 |
29 |
| 17 |
Barnet |
23 |
-7 |
28 |
| 18 |
Wrexham |
22 |
-12 |
27 |
| 19 |
Boston United |
23 |
-7 |
24 |
| 20 |
Mansfield |
22 |
-7 |
24 |
| 21 |
Accrington Stanley |
23 |
-9 |
22 |
| 22 |
Rochdale |
23 |
-9 |
20 |
|
23 |
Torquay |
23 |
-12 |
20 |
|
24 |
Macclesfield |
23 |
-15 |
17 |
|
|
Next Game |
|
Rochdale (a),
Coca Cola League 2
Tuesday, 26
December 2006, Kick Off @12:00 |
|
56'
82'
82'
56'