|
Match Report |
Wrexham made hard work of the 2-1 win
over the Imps and failure to put away their chances set up a nervous
ending to the game.
First half goals from Mark Jones and Chris Llewellyn had put Wrexham in
a commanding position but the scoreline should have been a lot more in
Wrexham’s favour before Mark Stallard pulled one back for the Imps
midway through the second half.
Wrexham only made one change from the defeat at Notts County with Kevin
Smith starting ahead of Maheta Molango but the good news was that Lee
McEvilly returned to the bench for the first time this season. Lincoln
also made changes with their three loan deadline day signings making the
starting line up.
Lincoln made the early running with their first chance coming when Steve
Evans slipped by the half way line and this allowed Mark Stallard to
break clear down the right wing. Wrexham managed to recover and it was
Steve Evans who had recovered back to clear the danger.
Wrexham also had an early chance but Llewellyn failed to control
Ferguson’s pass and this resulted in a comfortable save for Alan
Marriott in the Lincoln goal. Johnson threatened for Wrexham down the
left when he cut in from his wing and flashed a right footed shot across
the face of goal.
Wrexham’s first corner of the game was comfortably dealt with by the
Lincoln defence and they broke quickly after Lee Roche lost out in a
challenge on the touch line. Lincoln quickly moved the ball forward but
Johnson ran all the way from his left wing position and put enough
pressure on Frecklington who diverted Forrester’s pass out for a goal
kick.
Wrexham forced more corners when a header from Steve Evans was tipped
over the bar but the Imps cleared the resulting corner to the edge of
the area from where Mark Jones volleyed well over.
Wrexham were starting to come more into the game and took the lead in
the twenty fourth minute when Mark Jones cut in from his right flank and
his shot from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection of a
defender and the ball looped past a wrong footed Marriott and into the
net.
The goal gave Wrexham the extra confidence and they dominated the
remainder of the half. Josh Johnson again had a good game and a foul on
him earned Wrexham a free kick in a dangerous position. Ferguson
delivered the ball to the far post and Steve Evans crashed a header
against the bar but referee Trevor Kettle had already blown up for a
foul by Evans for climbing.
Lincoln continued to look dangerous when they advanced forward and gone
are the days of the long ball from the Imps as they played some neat
football but lacked a final ball to trouble the Wrexham goal. The Imps
did force a corner when Evans deflected a shot behind but it was
Wrexham’s turn to break quickly after Roche initially cleared with a
header.
Llewellyn picked the ball up on the edge of his area
and flicked it over his head before advancing to the half way line
without a tackle to set Johnson away down the right. Llewellyn continued
his run into the area and Johnson picked him out superbly at the back
post but Llewellyn’s header did not have the power to trouble Marriott
who made a simple save.
The Imps almost found away through when Stallard found some space in the
box but Lee Roche came across to block his route to goal and at the
other end Kevin Smith fired in a low free kick that forced a good save
from Marriott.
Wrexham continued to press hard and doubled the advantage with a minute
left on the clock. Ferguson delivered another good corner to the back
post where Steve Evans rose powerfully to head back across goal for
Llewellyn to turn in from close range.
A goal just before half time always sets you up well for the second half
and Wrexham started the second period with a good tempo.
Kevin Smith had the first shot when he was left in too much space and he
struck the ball from twenty five yards that Marriott spilled behind for
a corner although it nearly went in.
Smith had another chance when Llewellyn found Johnson down the left with
a neat pass. After Johnson jinked past his man he delivered a good cross
for Smith but he should have done better with his header.
It was all Wrexham now and following a foul on Mark Jones, Kevin Smith
curled the free kick around the wall but the ball was just at the right
height for Marriott to make a simple save.
Lincoln made a change by sacrificing defender Adie Moses with striker
Nat Brown and within a minute of the change the Imps had reduced the
deficit against the run of play.
Stallard found himself clean through on goal but he looked offside when
a Wrexham clearance deflected off a Lincoln player but the experienced
striker made no mistake with his finish past Ingham despite the close
attention of Lee Roche.
Wrexham initially struggled after the goal and for a ten minute spell
they found themselves under a lot of pressure although Ingham was not
forced into making anything but routine saves.
Wrexham came out of this spell with Llewellyn firing in a twenty five
yard shot that just cleared the bar and Williams had a shot held by
Marriott. The game was now end-to-end and Stallard should have done
better with his header after he was picked out by Forrester with a good
cross.
Johnson was causing a lot of problems for right back Beevers and the
Trinidadian skipped past him with ease down the left wing before cutting
into a box and forced Marriott into turning his goal bound shot behind
for a corner. Steve Evans was again dominant in the air when he met
Ferguson’s cross powerfully only for Marriott to punch the ball up into
the air and on top of the bar before going behind for another corner
that was cleared.
The introduction of Lee McEvilly for Kevin Smith with ten minutes left
brought a huge applause from the Wrexham crowd and McEvilly announced
his arrival by conceding a free kick that sent the Lincoln defender
stumbling to the ground.
McEvilly was again involved as the game went into injury time after
Llewellyn picked him out with a good pass. The striker advanced to the
edge of the area and after he drew the defender McEvilly picked out Mark
Jones in open space but he dragged his low shot just wide of the post.
Lincoln introduced a further two subs but their only chance came from a
corner that was well claimed by Ingham and the game ended soon after he
cleared up field. |
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Match Reaction |
|
Denis Smith: "If you look at our last few home games,
we won the week before last, we won the game before that and we drew the one
before that, so results at home have been quite good. Away from home we've
been poor but the performance last week was good, and we have played some
good stuff again today. I thought the stuff that we played in the first
twenty minutes of the second half was as good as you are going to see at
this level. We had enough chances to have killed the game off but I'm
pleased obviously with the outcome. I thought that they got back in it with
what I thought was a very dubious decision and that put us under pressure
but we still had chances even after that." [Source:
|Wrexham
FC - click here for more] |
|
|
Wrexham |
|
Starting XI:
| 01 |
Michael Ingham |
| 02 |
Lee Roche |
| 04 |
Shaun Pejic |
| 05 |
Steve Evans |
| 15 |
Mike Williams |
| 07 |
Mark Jones
 |
| 08 |
Danny Williams |
| 10 |
Darren Ferguson |
| 17 |
Josh Johnson |
| 25 |
Kevin Smith
80' |
| 11 |
Chris Llewellyn
|
Subs:
| 03 |
Ryan Valentine |
| 09 |
Lee McEvilly
80' |
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 16 |
Levi Mackin |
| 26 |
Maheta Molango |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
17 |
| Shots on Target: |
2 |
| Shots off Target: |
15 |
| Possession: |
50% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
12 |
| Corners: |
8 |
| Yellow Cards: |
0 |
| Red Cards: |
0 |
|
|
Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
3,619 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham 2 Lincoln City 0 |
| Referee |
Trevor Kettle (Berkshire) |
|
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87'
82
87'
82'