Wrexham |
Starting XI: |
01 |
Anthony Williams |
05 |
Steve Evans
|
04 |
Shaun Pejic |
15 |
Mike Williams |
02 |
Simon Spender |
29 |
Sam Aiston
46' |
22 |
Connell Murtagh
29' |
18 |
Levi Mackin |
03 |
Ryan Valentine |
09 |
Neil Roberts |
11 |
Chris Llewellyn |
Substitutes: |
10 |
Michael Proctor
29' |
13 |
Michael Jones (GK) |
21 |
Marc Williams |
25 |
Neil Taylor
46'
|
31 |
Wes Baines |
Stats: |
10 |
Shots on Goal |
9 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
Shots off Target |
45% |
Possession |
4 |
Fouls Conceded |
9 |
Corners |
1 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
Red Cards |
|
Chesterfield |
Starting XI: |
01 |
Barry Roche |
04 |
Jamie Lowry |
02 |
Janos Kovacs |
15 |
Aaron Downes |
11 |
Gregor Robertson |
20 |
Adam Rooney
78' |
16 |
Jamie Winter |
08 |
Derek Niven
78' |
19 |
Peter Leven
|
14 |
Jack Lester
|
07 |
Jamie Ward |
Substitutes: |
09 |
Adam Smith |
12 |
Michael Jordan (GK) |
17 |
Gareth Davies
78' |
18 |
Alan O'Hare
78' |
22 |
Wayne Allison |
Stats: |
12 |
Shots on Goal |
8 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
Shots off Target |
55% |
Possession |
7 |
Fouls Conceded |
8 |
Corners |
0 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
Red Cards |
|
Match Notes |
Venue: |
Recreation Ground |
Attendance: |
4,293 |
Half Time: |
Chesterfield 2 Wrexham 0 |
Referee: |
Darren Deadman |
|
Match Incidents |
7' |
|
Peter Leven (Chesterfield) |
41' |
|
Jack Lester (Chesterfield) |
53' |
|
Neil Taylor (Wrexham) |
68' |
|
Steve Evans (Wrexham) |
|
Match Reports |
WSA: Final Whistle
Podcast
BBC:
Chesterfield 2-1 Wrexham
Chesterfield FC: Spireites 2 Red Dragons 1
TEAMtalk: Spireites quell lowly Dragons
Wrexham FC: Chesterfield 2 Wrexham 1 (Ft)
Wrexham MAD: Chesterfield 2 Wrexham 1 |
League Two Results |
Accrington
Stanley 0 Bradford 2
Chester 0 Grimsby 2
Chesterfield 2 Wrexham 1
Dag & Red 1 Brentford 2
Hereford 0 Notts County 0
Lincoln City 1 Bury 1
Milton Keynes Dons 1 Mansfield 0
Peterborough 2 Shrewsbury 1
Rochdale 3 Darlington 1
Rotherham 3 Macclesfield 0
Stockport 2 Morecambe 1
Wycombe 0 Barnet 0 |
League Two Table |
1 |
MK Dons |
24 |
27 |
54 |
2 |
Hereford |
24 |
17 |
46 |
3 |
Rotherham |
23 |
16 |
46 |
4 |
Chesterfield |
23 |
16 |
43 |
5 |
Peterborough |
24 |
14 |
43 |
6 |
Darlington |
22 |
21 |
40 |
7 |
Wycombe |
24 |
4 |
40 |
8 |
Morecambe |
23 |
4 |
36 |
9 |
Rochdale |
21 |
6 |
35 |
10 |
Chester |
23 |
3 |
35 |
11 |
Shrewsbury |
24 |
3 |
34 |
12 |
Stockport |
24 |
0 |
33 |
13 |
Accrington |
24 |
-9 |
32 |
14 |
Barnet |
23 |
-6 |
29 |
15 |
Brentford |
24 |
-11 |
29 |
16 |
Bradford |
23 |
-4 |
27 |
17 |
Grimsby |
24 |
-9 |
27 |
18 |
Bury |
23 |
-4 |
24 |
19 |
Notts County |
23 |
-9 |
23 |
20 |
Macclesfield |
24 |
-13 |
23 |
21 |
Dag & Red |
24 |
-19 |
21 |
22 |
Lincoln City |
24 |
-17 |
19 |
23 |
Mansfield |
22 |
-7 |
16 |
24 |
Wrexham |
23 |
-23 |
15 |
|
Next Five Games |
Wed 09 Jan: Llanelli (a) 19:00
Sat 12 Jan: Grimsby (a) 15:00
Tue 15 Jan: Mansfield (a) 19:45
Sat 19 Jan: MK Dons (h) 15:00
Sat 26 Jan: Hereford (a) 15:00 |
|
Match Report |
Wrexham almost grabbed an unlikely
point from a game they looked destined to lose when a Steve Evans header
sparked a spirited fight back in the final third of the game.
By then though, Chesterfield should have been out of sight after
defensive howlers gifted the home side a comfortable 2-0 half time lead
and the Spireites should have gone on to extend their lead before
Wrexham made an interesting end to this New Year’s Day encounter.
An absolute cock-up from goalkeeper Anthony Williams had gifted the home
side a goal as early as the seventh minute and further bad defending
from Steve Evans and Simon Spender allowed Chesterfield to double their
advantage before the break.
But with Chesterfield failing to convert their chances in the second
half, Steve Evans had pulled one back and Michael Proctor had two clean
through opportunities saved at the death to deny Wrexham an unlikely
point.
Unfortunately, the Wrexham players have to realise that they have to
play for the opening hour of the game with the same tempo they played
the final third to get anything out of this division, but it wasn’t
until Brian Little moved Ryan Valentine back into midfield before half
time that Wrexham finally began to compete in what was a one sided
contest for most of the ninety minutes.
Brian Little took everybody by surprise with his team selection today by
handing out first starts under his regime to Levi Mackin and Connell
Murtagh in midfield and Ryan Valentine moved to wing back after an
impressive display in the centre on the weekend.
This meant their was no room in the side for Michael Proctor as Chris
Llewellyn moved up front and youngsters Neil Taylor and Wes Baines also
made way with another surprise recall for Simon Spender at right wing
back.
It was the home side who started the game on the front foot with
Chesterfield forcing an early corner that drew a good save from Anthony
Williams when he had to hold a shot from Adam Rooney.
But with no further threat coming from the Spireites, Anthony Williams
gifted the home side the opening goal after only seven minuets when the
Wrexham stopper failed to clear a simple back pass.
Instead, he only found Peter Leven forty yards out and despite him
returning a dipping ball with some interest, Williams completely flapped
at the ball and could only palm it up into the air on his line and the
ball simply bounced over the line.
Wrexham were really struggling early on with Mackin and Murtagh finding
it difficult to deal with the Chesterfield runners from midfield and the
home side should have extended their lead twenty minutes in when Rooney
and Niven failed to convert a low cross from Robinson at the far post.
But Chesterfield got lucky midway through the first half when keeper
Roche collided with Neil Roberts and was lucky to escape with no further
punishment as the Wrexham skipper required treatment for this unpunished
foul.
Chesterfield continued to look the side most likely and the home side
should have extended their advantage when Jack Lester played in the on
loan Rooney inside of the area but Williams this time pulled off a good
save.
Wrexham then lost the services of Connell Murtagh on the hour mark
following clash of heads with Janos Kovacs and this meant Wrexham had to
reshuffle with Neil Taylor replacing Murtagh and Ryan Valentine
switching back into midfield.
Shaun Pejic was caught out twice in as many minutes with five minutes of
the half left when Chesterfield played simple balls over the top but
Jamie Ward, a former target of Wrexham, was wide with his first effort
and Williams pulled off another good save with the second.
But Wrexham’s reprieve was short lived when another simple cross a
minute later was not dealt with by Steve Evans and Simon Spender, and
this allowed Jack Lester to measure a shot past Williams into the far
corner of the net.
Wrexham made a second change of the afternoon during the half time break
with Michael Proctor replacing Sam Aiston and this meant a further
change in formation with Wrexham now deploying a three man attack.
Chesterfield again proved to be the team with the most attacking intent
at the start of the second half and the home side should have extended
their lead when Wrexham were caught out on the right but Lester could
only divert a cross from Robertson over the bar at the near post.
But with half an hour remaining, Wrexham suddenly realised that they
could get something out of this game and we halved the deficit midway
though the second half completely out of the blue.
Mackin had a poor near post corner cleared behind but with his second
attempt, Chris Llewellyn managed to stoop to flick the ball on for Steve
Evans to head home unchallenged from within the six yard box.
The Wrexham fans behind the goal sensed a comeback and the players
responded with a committed performance from this point on.
This forced Chesterfield into desperate defending and Kovacs was injured
in the process of blocking a Llewellyn shot but Wrexham could not take
advantage of the home side being down to ten men as Mackin failed to
deliver a telling ball from the resulting corner.
The Chesterfield management, along with the home crowd, sensed the tide
had turned in Wrexham’s favour and made two changes with ten minutes
left, but the Spireites should have ended the game as a contest when
Pejic made a hash of his clearance by playing Ward through on goal but
Williams pulled off a smart save.
Chances fell to Proctor in the final ten minutes when Llewellyn sent him
clean through but Roche deflected his shot behind for a corner, which
Mike Williams went close to converting at the near post.
An even better chance came Proctor’s way with four minutes left when the
angle was in his favour from a long ball over the top but this time the
striker lacked any composure with his shot fired straight at Roche in
the centre of the goal and Wrexham’s chance looked lost.
There was still time to Neil Roberts have a flick cleared off the line
from a corner but it was case of a Wrexham starting the fight back too
late as we fell to a sixth straight defeat. |
Match Reaction |
Brian Little: "Although we have
fought back in the second half, we do tend to shoot ourselves in the
foot at times. I do think they were above us in terms of playing the
game, they had that on us, but we still do give away stupid goals. The
first goal was just frightening really, it comes from a minute or two
earlier when Taff was on the edge of his box and missed his kick. I
could come out here and put a record on, as I seem to have been saying
this a few times lately. We make a mistake and then we go all silly and
nervous for a few minutes. It shouldn't be a real problem, as everyone
makes mistakes, but ultimately we ended giving a goal away. Then for the
second goal, we have three onto one, but try and win a ball we can't
win, it ends up on the wrong side of the three of them and we end up 2-0
down! At half time, if I had told my team to go and play them off the
park, I would be lying and nobody would believe me anyway. That almost
got us something out of the game, but they have to work, not be
frightened, be brave and while we can't kid ourselves, Chesterfield
could have scored again, at least in the last 20 minutes we had two
great chances." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more] |
|