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Match Report |
Wrexham almost staged an unlikely
comeback but a Michael Proctor second half goal was not enough to
prevent a 2-1 defeat at play-off chasing Wycombe Wanderers.
The home side, with a strong wind in their favour, penned Wrexham back
during the first half and looked odds on for a rout as they raced into a
2-0 lead after only twenty-one minutes.
The problem was that, despite the inclement weather, Wrexham gifted
Wycombe both goals as first Leon knight and later top-scorer Scott
McGleish capitalised on defensive mistakes.
McGleish had the opportunity to put the game beyond any doubt as he hit
the bar late on in the first half but Wrexham responded after the break
with the aid of three substitutions and the wind advantage.
Michael Proctor grabbed a goal back seven minutes after the restart and
was later frustrated by Frank Fielding as he denied him from a free kick
after the home side were reduced to ten men after Tommy Doherty
collected his second yellow card of the evening.
Fielding did not know much about his late save from Paul Hall and the
result leaves Wrexham six points adrift of safety after Macclesfield
picked up all three points at Dagenham & Redbridge.
Brian Little named an unchanged side from the 2-0 victory at Chester on
the weekend but Wrexham found themselves on the back foot early on as
Gavin Ward was slow to collect a through ball with Phil Bolland
struggling to hold off the lively Leon Knight.
Knight was an early menace for Wrexham, popping up on either flank, but
a run through the middle resulted in a quick booking for Richard Hope
after the Wrexham captain clipped the striker’s heals on the edge of the
area.
Nothing came from the resulting free kick as Wycombe failed to test Ward
early on but the Wrexham keeper was at fault when the home side opened
the scoring after fourteen minutes.
Gavin Ward struggled with his clearances as he struck the ball into the
strong wind and following an offside decision the experienced keeper
could only pick out Knight midway in the Wrexham half.
Phill Bolland was unable to prevent a shot as Knight advanced to twenty
yards from goal, but Ward got enough on the ball and should of palmed it
way instead of into his own net.
Wrexham were really up against it seven minutes later when another Ward
clearance failed to make any distance but Carl Tremarco was equally at
fault when he cushioned his header straight into the path of McGleish
and he rounded Ward with ease before slotting the ball into the empty
net.
Wrexham were clearly shocked to find themselves two down with under a
quarter of the game gone and it looked a case of damage limitation now
as we had failed to register a shot on target by this point.
The frustrating part was that Wycombe were struggling to create anything
from open play and this pattern of play continued until Wrexham made
another mistake towards the end of the half.
This time we failed to challenge for a routine header on the edge of the
area and when the ball dropped perfectly for McGleish, he should have
done better than rattling the Wrexham cross bar before the ball was
finally cleared.
Wrexham lost the services of Jeff Whitley on the stroke of half time and
the midfielder was replaced by Sam Aiston but Brian Little went onto
make two further changes for the start of the second half.
Phil Bolland joined Richard Hope in the book towards the end of the
first half after clashing with McGleish, and both players made way to be
replaced by Gareth Evans and Neil Taylor.
This resulted in change in formation to 4-4-2 with Neil Taylor operating
well in midfield and Sam Aiston made a significant contribution on the
left wing, whilst Evans did not put a foot wrong at the back.
Evans and Taylor made instant impacts with crunching challenges and this
urgency had been lacking from Wrexham’s play in the opening forty five
minutes of the game.
Wrexham, now aided with the wind in their favour, signalled their second
half attacking intentions early on after Chris Llewellyn collected the
ball on the edge of the area and was denied by a tip over save from
Fielding.
Wrexham continued to frustrate the travelling support with short corners
in the second half and the absence of Danny Sonner resulted in set play
opportunities going begging due to a lack of quality of the ball in.
Wrexham did grab the early goal they required just seven minutes after
the restart when Michael Proctor was well placed to slam the ball past
Fielding after Gareth Evans managed to flick on a Tremarco free kick.
It was the turn of the home side to be clearly rattled following the
goal and Sam Aiston was having a lot of joy against his full back down
the Wrexham left.
But for all Wrexham’s territorial advantage in the second half, the
Wycombe defence were a lot more resolute than Wrexham’s first half
showing and managed to restrict the away side to half chances at best.
Wycombe were now resorting to wasting time as the final twenty minutes
of the game approached but almost grabbed what would have been a crucial
third when Craig Woodman found space down the left but Ward managed to
block his shot away.
Aiston continued to terrorise Wycombe and Doherty was sent off for a
second bookable offence with eleven minutes left when he pulled down the
Wrexham winger, only for Fielding to pull off a superb near post save to
deny Proctor from the resulting free kick.
Wrexham upped the tempo for the final ten minutes but the luck that
graced us against Chester evaded us as Fielding some how deflected the
ball over the bar after the ball broke to Hall on the edge of the area.
There was one chance left when Proctor had a free header during injury
time but this went straight at Fielding and Wrexham were left to rue
mistakes and missed opportunities as the final whistle sounded. |
Match Reaction |
Brian Little: "For every bit as good as we
were in the second half, we were twice as bad in the first. It's a hard
one for me to call, as that was a poor as we have been in a long time.
Yes, we have had some games when we haven't played overly well, but I
have not had a game where I think we could have worked harder, looked
brighter and got amongst them. I'm not looking for excuses, but I think
another 24 hours would have been nice for us to prepare for this game.
And it looked like we needed a little bit of a runaround to get things
going. That's about the only thing I can bring up if I'm looking for
excuses, which I'm not. We needed to shake things up at half time, we
needed to be brave and try something different. Both Richard and Phil
had been booked, and I didn't want a sending off, so that gave me
license to try something different." [Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Paul Lambert: "I'm over the moon.
To get the six points from the two home games is great and it was a
massive three points. We were so far ahead in the first half and
we put ourselves under pressure after letting the goal in. To be fair to
Wrexham they did well and the goal gave them an impetus to go forward."
[Source:
Wycombe Wanderers FC - click here for more] |
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