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Match Report |
A second half penalty from Neil
Roberts was a mere consolation for a Wrexham side that was on the wrong
end of a 4-1 scoreline in Milton Keynes.
The game was realistically over after only ten minutes after the Dons
scored two early goals through Danny Swailes and Aaron Wilbraham but
took their foot of the gas for the remainder of the game.
Add more defensive errors to a lack of any quality in the final third of
the field, then Wrexham had all the ingredients of getting stuffed but
the second half penalty on the hour mark made it nervous for the hosts
for the next quarter-of-an-hour.
That was until Sean O’Hanlon was left unmarked to head in a third from a
corner and Aaron Wilbraham bagged his brace in injury time after the
Wrexham defence had gone AWOL.
Wrexham remain seven points adrift of Notts County after they lost 4-2
at Rochdale but games are running out for a Wrexham side that are now
without a win in six games with only five left to play.
Brian Little made two enforced changes from the weekend with Gareth
Evans playing at right wing back for the injured Simon Spender and
Stuart Nicholson replaced Drewe Broughton as he could not play against
his parent club as part of his loan agreement.
This meant Wrexham started the game with five defenders on the pitch but
none of them could prevent the MK Dons from opening the scoring within
two minutes.
An inswinging free kick from Dean Lewington looked to be a routine
clearance for either Steve Evans or Gavin Ward but both players stood
there motionless as defender Swailes strolled in to score from the edge
of the six range box.
A disastrous start got even worse for Wrexham before ten minutes had
been completed as Jemmal Johnson cruelly exposing a lack of pace from
‘wing back’ Gareth Evans – why he was favoured instead of Wes Baynes or
Sam Aiston? – down their left and he cut the ball back for an unmarked
Wilbraham to power the ball home from twelve yards.
You could sense Wrexham could now be on the wrong end of a hammering but
at least the MK Dons did have a heart and reduced their pace to a
training ground practice match level and this did allow Wrexham to have
chances at the other end.
But, true to form, and despite the effort, Wrexham never had the quality
to really trouble the best defensive team in the league with a lack of
shots on target.
Neil Roberts went close to troubling Willy Gueret in the Dons goal with
a long range shot and our first effort on target came after Nicholson
collected a left wing cross from Taylor but his effort was never in
danger of beating the ‘keeper.
Our best chance came just before the half hour mark when the Dons were
almost penalised for needlessly given the ball away, but Gueret got down
low to his left to deny Marc Williams from the edge of the area and
Nicholson made a hash of the rebound from close range.
Danny Williams then had a long range free kick blocked by the home
defence and Nicholson went close with the rebound but Wrexham never
looked like scoring with the majority of our shots coming from long
range.
Wrexham did pick up at the start of the second half and were rewarded in
the fifty-ninth minute when Carl Regan pulled down Neil Roberts in the
area but Regan didn’t even pick up a booking after denying Roberts a
clear goal scoring opportunity.
Neil Roberts despatched the resulting penalty with ease and Gueret
became one of five home players in the book for keeping hold of the ball
as Wrexham tried to build on their momentum.
Gavin Ward kept Wrexham in the game straight from the restart with a
good save from Mark Wright after he measured a shot from the area that
the Wrexham ‘keeper turned behind for a corner.
Wrexham continued to press but rarely opened up the home defence and
were left to pay for more bad marking with fifteen minutes left when
Sean O’Hanlan was left unmarked to head home Lewington’s corner.
Matty Done had replaced Stuart Nicholson minutes before the goal and
Michael Proctor was lined up to replace Danny Williams as the third went
in and this killed the game off as far as Wrexham were concerned.
The Dons took advantage of this and made the most of a quick free kick
and Gareth Evan selling himself on the half way line in injury time.
Keith Andrews just went past him with ease and threaded a delightful
through ball for Wilbraham to skip past Ward and slot the ball home for
his second and the Dons’ fourth of the night.
This was almost the final act of the night and it won’t be long until
the final curtain is down on Wrexham’s status as a Football League club
as we just don’t have the ability in the final third of the pitch,
despite all the effort up to that point. |
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Match Reaction |
| Brian Little: "At any level in football you
can't afford to give four goals away, but I do think that outside of
that we player reasonably well. With the score at 2-1 I thought we had a
chance. Overall I don't think they had too many more chances than us. We
did though give away three awful goals, the first was poor, the third a
free header and then in the last minute someone took a quick free kick
and all our centre halves were running up - it was not the cleverest in
the world. I felt at 2-1 we had a chance and fir the last 20 minutes of
the first half we were grinding our way back into the game, so again our
attitude and our commitment were right, but we just had a spell during
which you can't really explain whey we give away the goals that we do.
There were periods in the game when we looked comfortable and then there
were periods of individuals making the most horrible mistakes. Then when
we had got back into the match, to go and give them a free header at the
corner was poor. Having said that, there are things about the team we
are fairly proud of, but again the scoreline tonight probably suggests
that we have not tried, but I don't think that is the case. Our attitude
was spot on, we just continue to give stupid goals away."
[Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more] |
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