|
Match Report |
Wrexham at last got back to winnings
ways and ended a run of five straight defeats with what turned out to be
a comfortable 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers.
The goals came in either half with Chris Llewellyn opening the scoring
but the Wrexham striker was sent off by the time debutant Tom Craddock,
on loan from Middlesbrough, secured the win with a second in injury
time.
Both of the goals were of high quality with the first coming against the
run of play with Bristol Rovers dominating the opening twenty minutes of
the game. The goal gave Wrexham the much needed confidence they required
and the Pirates were never in danger of getting anything out of the
game, despite having a man advantage for the last 26 minutes of the
game.
Shaun Pejic was back at the centre of defence today with Craig Morgan
dropping to the bench and Tom Craddock started at the expense of Josh
Johnson, as Wrexham reverted back to their custom 4-4-2 for this season.
The injury to Lee Roche meant Mike Williams started on the left side of
defence with Ryan Valentine switching to the right but, despite all
these changes, it was the visitors who started the brighter.
Wrexham did not help themselves early on by giving the ball away inside
their own half and this only added pressure onto the defence. Valentine
was the first culprit when he carelessly gave the ball away and this
allowed Rovers to get a shot in on goal that was deflected behind for a
corner.
Wrexham failed to deal with the short corner and when it was eventually
scrambled clear to the edge of the area the shot was dragged wide of the
near post. Rovers upped the pressure when Steve Evans missed a cross in
from the right but Wrexham managed to scramble clear.
Danny Williams gave the ball away just inside his own half and this
allowed Rovers to break to the edge of the Wrexham area. The ball was
spread wide down the right channel and the cut back to the edge of the
area was literally passed into the arms of Ingham by Haldane.
Williams also ended up in the book for a bad challenge when he chased
the ball down after Llewellyn conceded possession. The referee was not
helping matters when he awarded Rovers a corner despite the cross going
straight out of play but he did redeem himself by awarding Wrexham a
soft free kick for a block on Ingham when the corner was played in.
Richard Walker went close again for Rovers who continued to dominate
proceedings and Ingham was again called into action to deny Hunt. The
best Wrexham could offer was a shot from Mark Jones that he hit high
lover the bar on his weaker left foot but despite this, it was Wrexham
who opened the scoring midway through the first half against the run of
play.
This time it was Rovers’ turn to give away possession on the half way
line with Mark Jones setting Chris Llewellyn away down the right
channel. The striker cut in from the touchline, skipping past one
defender before unleashing an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area
that had Phillips beaten at his near post.
The goal gave Wrexham the much needed confidence boost and they took the
game to Rovers from this point on. Mark Jones again tried his luck from
the edge of the area but he rather uncharacteristically fired high over
the bar.
Wrexham were almost celebrating a second with ten minutes of the half
left when Rovers could only partially clear a Valentine cross in from
the right. The ball got as far as Danny Williams and he struck a
fantastic first time volley from all of 30 yards that had Phillips well
beaten but was unlucky as the ball rebounded off the inside of the far
post and across the face of goal to safety.
It got rather heated between Valentine and the lively Haldane towards
the end of the first half and the referee had to speak with both players
to defuse the situation. It did not work though, as Haldane found
himself in the book after catching Valentine with a late challenge only
minutes later.
On loan striker Tom Craddock had found it difficult early on but his
performance improved as the game went on and he should have been
celebrating a first goal towards the end of the first half. Llewellyn
flicked the ball onto his strike partner but Craddock’s shot went
straight at Phillips as Wrexham ended a goal up at half time.
There were no changes for the start of the second half as Darren
Ferguson brought his players together for a team huddle before the
restart and this tactic appeared to work, as Wrexham started the second
period a lot better that the first but it was Rovers who had the first
chance on goal.
This came from a corner forced down their left and when Igoe’s cross was
delivered to the near post, Richard Walker got free of his marker but he
glanced his header wide of the near post.
Rovers forced another corner just after the hour mark but it was Wrexham
who broke clear on the counter attack with Tom Craddock running from the
halfway line to the edge of area from where he fired wide of the near
post when he had Matty Done screaming in support.
Wrexham enjoyed a decent spell of possession with Craddock and Llewellyn
testing Philips but in the sixty fourth minute they were down to ten men
after Chris Llewellyn received a straight red card. Llewellyn went in
for a 50/50 ball with Elliott but had both feet showing in his lunging
challenge but clearly won the ball. Despite this, referee Russell Booth
produced a red card much to the annoyance of the home crowd. The match
sponsors later went on to name Llewellyn man of the match!
Wrexham did well after going down to ten men with debutant Tom Craddock
leading the line well and he fought for every ball on his own up front.
Wrexham never looked in danger of conceding their lead with Rovers
failing to make their man advantage count.
As the fourth official displayed that there would be four minutes of
injury time, Michael Ingham was at full stretch to tip a cross away for
a corner that goalkeeper Steve Phillips came up for.
Wrexham cleared this and broke up the field with Tom Craddock finding
himself on his own up front. He was now running on empty but managed to
take the ball up to the edge of the penalty area. With no support, he
turned and held the ball up before turning his man again and fired a
superb low left footed shot across the face of Phillips and inside of
the far post for a superbly taken debut goal.
Players and fans celebrated the goal, which ended Wrexham’s run of four
straight defeats. |
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Match Reaction |
|
Denis Smith: "As long as we get enough wins by the end
of the season to achieve something then everything will be fine. We've got a
lot of the season to go so and hopefully that's the first win of about
another twenty or so. People have got themselves hyped up and hysterical
about thinks, but we've just carried on working and hopefully that showed
today. Hopefully we can build on what we have done today. It is no use
saying that we will do this and we will do that, what you have got to do is
to achieve something by the end of the season and hopefully we will be able
to do that. The only disappointing thing was Chris' sending off. From where
I was, I thought it would be very difficult to argue with the referee's
decision but we'll have a look at the video. I thought he got the ball but
he appeared to go in with two feet and if he has then he's got to go. I'll
have a look at it but Chris is not that sort of player so it's not a
deliberate thing and there was a lot more going on than that. If you ask me
if the referee was wrong then my first impression was that he wasn't. I
thought that Tom had a super second half, he did everything; he scored a
super second goal but he could have scored two or three. He showed great
movement and gave them allsorts of problems and I'm pleased he's got a goal
so that should settle him down. He's a young lad with great enthusiasm for
the game, he wants to play football, which is super, and hopefully he can
score a few more while he's here." [Source: Wrexham
FC -
click here for more]
Paul Trollope: "That was disappointing. We were
pleased with the opening period of the game, up until the point when they
scored. Aaron Lescott gave the ball away after we had switched it quite
well, and the players know that sometimes they just need to put their foot
through it. It was a good finish to be fair, and after that goal Wrexham
enjoyed a decent spell and we had to stay solid. In the second half we then
went back to the Bristol Rovers of last week when the opposition were down
to ten men and we had no quality whatsoever with a cross or shot in the
final third. It seemed like there was a brick wall there and we hit it every
time we tried to go forward. Getting to the final third was fine, and I
don't question the effort or commitment of the players. But we lack quality
in the final third and that has to change."
[Source:
Bristol Rovers FC - for more click here] |
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|
Wrexham |
|
Starting XI:
| 01 |
Michael Ingham |
| 03 |
Ryan Valentine |
| 04 |
Shaun Pejic |
| 05 |
Steve Evans |
| 15 |
Mike Williams |
| 07 |
Mark Jones |
| 08 |
Danny Williams
 |
| 10 |
Darren Ferguson |
| 20 |
Matty Done |
| 22 |
Tom Craddock
 |
| 11 |
Chris Llewellyn
 |
Subs:
| 06 |
Craig Morgan |
| 13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
| 14 |
Simon Spender |
| 16 |
Levi Mackin |
| 21 |
Mike Williams |
Stats:
| Shots on Goal: |
12 |
| Shots on Target: |
5 |
| Shots off Target: |
7 |
| Possession: |
54% |
| Fouls Conceded: |
9 |
| Corners: |
3 |
| Yellow Cards: |
1 |
| Red Cards: |
1 |
|
|
Match Notes |
| Venue |
Racecourse Ground |
| Attendance |
3.803 |
| Half Time |
Wrexham 1 Bristol Rovers 0 |
| Referee |
Russell Booth (Nottinghamshire) |
|
|
Other Match Reports |
|
Wrexham
Dragons: Final Whistle Podcast
BBC: Wrexham 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers FC: Rovers slump to poor away loss
TEAMtalk: Wrexham stop rot with Pirates win
Wrexham FC: Wrexham 2 Bristol Rovers 0
Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 2 Bristol Rovers 0 |
|
League 2 Results |
|
Barnet 1
Chester 0
Boston United 0 Wycombe 1
Hartlepool 0 Darlington 0
Hereford 1 Accrington Stanley 0
Macclesfield 2 Mansfield 3
Notts County 0 Bury 1
Peterborough 2 Grimsby 2
Rochdale 1 Stockport 3
Swindon 0 Lincoln City 1
Torquay 0 Shrewsbury 0
Walsall 0 Milton Keynes Dons 0
Wrexham 2 Bristol Rovers 0 |
|
League 2 Table |
|
|
|
Pld
|
GD
|
PTS
|
|
1 |
Lincoln City |
16 |
20 |
35 |
|
2 |
Walsall |
16 |
20 |
35 |
|
3 |
Wycombe |
16 |
10 |
32 |
|
4 |
Swindon |
16 |
10 |
31 |
|
5 |
Notts County |
16 |
5 |
27 |
|
6 |
Milton Keynes Dons |
16 |
2 |
27 |
|
7 |
Peterborough |
16 |
-1 |
25 |
| 8 |
Hereford |
16 |
0 |
23 |
| 9 |
Shrewsbury |
15 |
9 |
21 |
| 10 |
Darlington |
16 |
0 |
21 |
| 11 |
Mansfield |
16 |
-1 |
21 |
| 12 |
Stockport |
16 |
-2 |
21 |
| 13 |
Accrington Stanley |
16 |
1 |
20 |
| 14 |
Hartlepool |
16 |
0 |
20 |
| 15 |
Bury |
15 |
-1 |
20 |
| 16 |
Chester |
16 |
-1 |
20 |
| 17 |
Bristol Rovers |
16 |
-7 |
19 |
| 18 |
Torquay |
16 |
-4 |
18 |
| 19 |
Wrexham |
14 |
-8 |
18 |
| 20 |
Rochdale |
16 |
-4 |
17 |
| 21 |
Grimsby |
16 |
-12 |
16 |
| 22 |
Barnet |
16 |
-8 |
15 |
|
23 |
Boston United |
16 |
-11 |
12 |
|
24 |
Macclesfield |
16 |
-17 |
5 |
|
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Next Game |
|
Macclesfield Town (h),
Coca Cola League 2
Saturday 04
November 2006, Kick Off @ 15:00 |
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76'
70'
59'
70'
59'
76'