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Match Report |
Wrexham fell to an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the
hands of Chesterfield and deservedly dropped back into the relegation
zone as a result.
The game was all over by the quarter of an hour mark when sloppy
defending gifted the visitors an astonishing 3-0 lead.
Many of the 3,000 crowd could hardly believe what they were seeing as
Chesterfield struck the woodwork twice before half time with Wrexham
only troubling the visitor's goal from long range and the Spireites
looked like they could cut through the Wrexham defence with every
opportunity.
A fourth goal was the minimum Chesterfield deserved in the second half
but in truth they had enough opportunities to have doubled their
advantage by the time the game was over.
Wrexham are struggling keeping goals out at the moment and it is
unbelievable to think that our best defender from last season, Shaun
Pejic, will remain on the bench for much longer.
There are also problems at the other end with Wrexham hardly creating a
shooting opportunity inside of the box from open play and truthfully, we
were lucky to score nil – we were really that bad.
Even more surprising was that it was the same team and formation that
should have been full of confidence after the 1-0 win over Lincoln on
the weekend and good linkup play between Neil Roberts and Marc Williams
created the first early opportunity for Robbie Garrett but the on loan
Stoke player was wide with his effort.
This optimism was short lived when Chesterfield opened the scoring after
six minutes after earlier having good build up play halted by the
offside flag.
This time there was no reprieve for the Wrexham defence as debutant
Felix Bastians skinned Michael Carvill down the left but his simple low
cross was spilled by Anthony Williams and the Wrexham defence were
unable to scramble the loose ball clear as Jack Lester scored from close
range.
Wrexham did recover from this and enjoyed plenty of the ball but the
closest we came to equalising was when Aaron Downes miss hit Michael
Carvill's cross and Barry Roche was forced to turn the ball around his
near post.
But despite this promising recovery, poor defending allowed Chesterfield
to score twice in the space of a minute around the quarter of an hour
mark and this effectively ended the game as a contest.
The first came after Danny Williams was skinned by the impressive
Bastians down the left and this time Anthony Williams failed to come out
for his low cross, despite the ball being in his six yard box, and
Anthony Rooney scrambled the ball over the line from close range.
Even more shocking defending was to follow a minute later when Jamie
Lowry was allowed too much space down the right to measure a deep cross
for Adam Rooney who knocked the ball back across goal to Jack Lester who
was left completely unmarked and he made no mistake from ten yards out.
Chesterfield looked like they would score with every attack and a superb
save from Anthony Williams was required at his near post to keep out a
header from Jack Lester after Janos Kovacs had picked him out unmarked
(again) with a knock down.
Wrexham had lost the services of Marc Williams to injury following the
third goal and he was replaced by Chris Llewellyn but it was referee
David Foster who took centre stage after twenty minutes when he booked
five players before the half hour mark was reached, with Chesterfield
edging this contest by three bookings to two.
During this time, Wrexham had a couple of half chances when Neil Roberts
had a shot deflected behind and a good run from Robbie Garrett ended
with a twenty yard shot that Roche gathered comfortably.
There were further efforts from Mark Jones and Llewellyn
but they were all routine saves for the Chesterfield keeper.
There was still time left in the first half for Chesterfield to strike
the woodwork twice when Phil Picken rattled the far post from long range
after our midfield had failed to close him down.
Chesterfield again walked through the heart of the Wrexham defence but
Jack Lester should have scored when the ball finally reached him but he
opted for power instead of finesse and saw his shot rattle the cross bar
with Williams well beaten.
Despite a shocking first half performance, it was amazing to see Wrexham
start the second half with no changes in personnel or formation and it
was no surprise that we never looked like breaching the well organised
Chesterfield back line as the game wore on.
Our chances were again limited to long range and Chris Llewellyn went
close when he fired a low shot narrowly wide of the near post.
Jack Lester then wasted another glorious chance for a hat trick when he
took advantage of a mix up in the Wrexham defence but dragged his shot
across the face of goal with Rooney unable to reach the ball at the far
post.
This was only a short reprieve for the Wrexham defence and Chesterfield
grabbed a fourth on the hour mark to give the score line a more
realistic look, such was the dominance of the visitors.
Anthony Williams was forced to turn a well taken free kick around his
near post but Wrexham were unable to clear from the resulting corner and
this time Chesterfield put a neat move together down the left that
carved open the Wrexham defence for Peter Leven to curl the ball into
the top corner.
This sparked Brian Carey into making a double substitution with Matt
Crowell and Michael Carvill being replaced by Matty Done and Simon
Spender.
Despite the changes coming too late, it was surprising to see Wrexham
stick with the ineffective wing backs and it was even more unbelievable
to think that Matty Done could compete up front against the Chesterfield
defence with Chris Llewellyn dropping back into midfield.
Chesterfield made their three substitutions with debutant Bastians even
leaving the field to applause from Wrexham fans and the visitors had
further chances to extend their lead.
The best of these opportunities came as the game went into injury time
but Rooney should have done better when he burst through but lifted his
shot over the bar.
Thankfully the injury time only lasted two minutes and the nightmare was
over. |
Match Reaction |
Brian Carey: "Certainly defensively in the
first quarter of an hour we were awful. Despite giving them a three goal
lead in the first fifteen minutes, funnily enough we were doing ok in
the game. Once you start doing that, you don't give yourselves a chance
and that is what we did tonight. I can only apologise to everyone who
turned up tonight because I thought that we had turned the corner with
the first clean sheet on Saturday, how we coped on Saturday and how we
came out of the game with the win. I asked them before the game tonight
to push on, take another step forward but we've probably actually taken
two or three steps back tonight. It was the most experienced players who
let us down early on and there is no getting away from that, no excuses.
It was schoolboy defending wasn't it? You put players on the pitch and
they should be better at their job, tonight they weren't. Tonight we
were second best all around. I can totally understand the reaction of
the crowd, as I've said all along, the buck stops with me. I take the
flack that goes with it and I understand people's frustrations, I really
can because I would not want to sit there and support a team that is
getting beat three and 4-0 at home." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Lee Richardson: "We were disappointed on Saturday
after losing a game I thought we dominated and should have won. Tonight
we played to our capabilities and put in the kind of performance I know
we can produce. I was pleased with Felix Bastians, he got a good early
touch and went outside the wingback and put in a couple of great balls
for the opening two goals. I am pleased for Adam Rooney that he scored.
He worked hard alongside Jack and they were a constant menace. To get
the three early goals was a terrific start. No team can be comfortable
after conceding three early goals and I think they were a little shell
shocked, especially with a lot of young players in the side and there
really there was no way back for them."
[Source:
Chesterfield FC - click here for more] |
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