Bristol Rovers 0

 

Wrexham 1

Jeff Whitley 87'

Saturday 24 March 2007

 

Kick Off @ 15:00



Match Report

Wrexham picked up a vital three points at the Memorial Stadium and for once, it was Wrexham’s turn to score in the last five minutes when Jim Whitley stooped to head home Shaun Pejic’s cross in the 87th minute.

The result was no more than Wrexham’s performance deserved and reduces the gap at the bottom of the table to just one point and a victory over Mansfield next week will see Wrexham climb out of the relegation zone as Boston and Bury, the two teams above us in the table, play each other at Yorke Street on the same Saturday.

Wrexham included the three recent loan signings from the start with Anthony Williams in goal for the injured Ingham, Richard Walker in defence and Michael Proctor filling in on the right wing. Simon Spender replaced the suspended Lee Roche at right back and the arrival of Walker allowed Danny Williams to push into midfield to replace Robbie Garrett who was away on international duty and Mark Jones again played out on the left.

Wrexham started brightly with Richard Walker heading a second minute corner from Mark Jones wide and four minutes later Mark Jones forced Steve Phillips into a save when he turned Jones’ effort from twelve yards out around the post for another Wrexham corner which McEvilly headed wide.

The home side did respond when they forced their first corner of the game but Disley headed wide when unmarked from Campbell’s cross and moments later Haldane flashed a left footed shot over from the edge of the area.

Neil Roberts had a shot blocked from eighteen yards for Wrexham and Anthony Williams did well to parry a powerful shot from Lewis Haldane inside of the area, and the Wrexham keeper was again called into action minutes later when he held well from Igoe after Rovers had broken quickly up field from a Wrexham attack.

Wrexham were forced into making a change at half time and rather worryingly Mark Jones was replaced by Matty Done with a reoccurrence of last week’s injury but the introduction of Done did add much needed pace and natural width to Wrexham’s left hand side.

Wrexham again started the half positively with two chances falling to Lee McEvilly but he was unlucky when his header from Done’s deep cross thundered back off the bar and Phillips did well to save another header from the Wrexham striker moments later.

Rovers then made their first change of the match just before the hour mark when Sean Rigg replaced Samy Igoe and the substitute was straight into the thick of the action when he had a shot blocked by Walker after exchanging passes with Nicholson.

The home side then wasted a close range free kick that was fired over by Campbell after Pejic was adjudged to have fouled Oji from twenty-five yards out and Stuart Nicholson tested Williams with a shot from the edge of the area that was held by the debutant in the Wrexham goal.

Both sides made changes with a quarter of the game to go with Michael Carvill replacing Michael Proctor who had done well on his debut and Rovers introduced top goal scorer Richard Walker for Richard Lambert.

Wrexham went close with twenty minutes left when the home side could only head clear a Wrexham corner to the edge of the area from where Neil Roberts fired a superb first time acrobatic volley that Phillips could only parry away but a home defender was on hand to hack clear from inside the six-yard box.

Williams was again called into action when Haldane fired in a shot from twenty yards out with a quarter of an hour to go and the Wrexham keeper again collected comfortably a corner from Campbell minutes later.

But with five minutes remaining it was Wrexham’s turn to score late on after McEvilly was fouled on the edge of the area by Disley but the Wrexham striker’s free kick failed to clear the wall. The rebound was deflected to the left side of the area from where Roberts recovered the ball for Pejic to cross to the back post and Jim Whitley steered his header past Phillips into the back of the net.

With Rovers offering hardly anything in response, Wrexham played out the time remaining and the two minutes of injury time for a valuable three points in our relegation fight to stay in the Football League.

Match Reaction

Brian Carey: "While I'm delighted by the result, I was fearing it was going to be another one of those days. I thought I might be sitting here discussing a penalty decision that wasn't given to us, but thanks to Jeff's goal it hasn't come back to be an issue. We have players who have been busting a gut in training and with the reserves, to get the chance to get out onto the pitch. Matty Done is one of them and today he came on to good effect. There has always been a great spirit throughout the placed and we are certainly no doom and gloom club. For team spirit we would be top of the league and that played a big part today. I don't suppose Jeff can believe he has scored the winner as he doesn't get many, but hey, this is only the first result, there is still plenty to do and a long way to go. There is still a lot of football to be played and teams around us will pick up results that you might not expect, nothing can be taken for granted. It will chop and change week after week, but we have to maintain what we are doing and this is only the beginning. Our discipline was excellent today, and one or two will have looked at us in the last few weeks and said we don't have any discipline at all, with players getting sent off left, right and centre. But credit to the players today, because we asked them to be mindful of that. I was also pleased with the new lads, because it's not easy coming straight into the side, but they all contributed very well." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]

 

Paul Trollope: "It was a performance that lacked quality. We had a few spells when we got a hold of the game, but we lacked quality with the final shot, pass or cross too many times. We've hauled ourselves into a half decent position over the last week, but we lacked in too many areas today and too many times we fizzled out in the Wrexham half. It wasn't good enough - we deserved nothing from the game and Wrexham thoroughly deserved their victory. The expectancy was there for us to win today, but it reminded me of what happened last season which is a real concern. Some of the players out there are the same ones, so it tells us we haven't learned as a group." [Source: Bristol Rovers FC - click here for more]

Bristol Rovers

Starting XI:

01 Steve Phillips
32 Aaron Lescott
05 Carig Hinton
16 Samuel Oji
11 Chris Carruthers
26 Lewis Haldane
07 Stuart Campbell
20 Craig Disley
04 Sammy Igoe 57'
19 Stuart Nicholson
09 Richard Lambert 69'

Subs:

03 Joe Jacobson
10 Richard Walker 69'
15 Bryron Anthony
22 Chris Lines
27 Sean Rigg 57'

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 15
Shots on Target: 7
Shots off Target: 8
Possession: 41%
Fouls Conceded: 10
Corners: 5
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Wrexham

Starting XI:

33 Anthony Williams
14 Simon Spender
04 Shaun Pejic
06 Richard Walker
15 Mike Williams
18 Michael Proctor 69'
08 Danny Williams
32 Jeff Whitley
07 Mark Jones 46'
23 Neil Roberts
09 Le McEvilly

Subs:

10 Michael Carvill 69'
13 Michael Jones (GK)
16 Levi Mackin
20 Matty Done 46'
24 Gareth Evans

Stats:

Shots on Goal: 16
Shots on Target: 11
Shots off Target: 5
Possession: 59%
Fouls Conceded: 5
Corners: 13
Yellow Cards: 0
Red Cards: 0

Match Notes

Venue The Memorial Stadium
Attendance 5,209
Half Time Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 0
Referee Ray Olivier (West Midlands)

Match Timeline

85'

Jeff Whitley (Wrexham)

Other Match Reports

Wrexham Dragons: Final Whistle Podcast


BBC: Bristol Rovers 0-1 Wrexham


Bristol Rovers FC: Late goal seals it for Wrexham


TEAMtalk: Whitley effort boosts Red Dragons


Wrexham FC: Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 1


Wrexham MAD: Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 1

League 2 Results

Mansfield 1 Macclesfield 2 (Friday)
Wycombe 0 Boston United 0 (Friday)
Accrington Stanley 2 Hereford 0
Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 1
Bury 0 Notts County 1
Chester 2 Barnet 0
Grimsby 0 Peterborough 2
Shrewsbury 1 Torquay 0
Stockport 2 Rochdale 7 (Seven)

Darlington v Hartlepool (Sunday)
Lincoln City v Swindon (Sunday)
Milton Keynes Dons v Walsall (Sunday)

League 2 Table

   
PLD
GD
PTS
1 Hartlepool 38 21 75
2 Walsall 38 28 72
3 Milton Keynes Dons 38 14 70
4 Lincoln City 38 15 67
5 Swindon 37 15 67
6 Stockport 39 8 63
7 Wycombe 38 11 59
8 Darlington 38 4 57
9 Shrewsbury 36 20 56
10 Peterborough 39 5 55
11 Bristol Rovers 38 0 52
12 Notts County 39 -1 51
13 Chester 39 0 50
14 Grimsby 39 -17 50
15 Rochdale 37 14 49
16 Mansfield 39 0 49
17 Hereford 39 -6 49
18 Barnet 39 -14 46
19 Accrington Stanley 39 -11 41
20 Macclesfield 39 -16 41
21 Bury 38 -15 39
22 Boston United 39 -25 39
23 Wrexham 38 -25 38
24 Torquay 39 -25 29

Next Game

Mansfield Town (h), Coca Cola League 2

Saturday 31 March 2007, Kick Off @ 15:00