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Match Report |
Wrexham’s new season started in disappointing
fashion following the 2-0 defeat at Darlington in the North East.
There was not much between the two sides but the Quakers did edge it in
the final third of the game and Wrexham will be disappointed in the
manner they conceded the first goal just before half time when Kevin
McBride was afforded a free header from close range.
The turning point looked to have come just after the hour mark when goalkeeper
Andy Oakes brought the clean through Michael Proctor down on the edge of
the area and was brandished the inevitable red card.
Despite having the man advantage, Wrexham failed to dominate their hosts
and only managed to test new keeper Stockdale after Darlington extended their league when Julian Joachim smashed in
from the edge of the area.
Like at Hednesford last week, Wrexham were lacking in midfield and the
news afterwards that the club are in talks with Trinidadian Silvio Spann
could well be the remedy that the doctor ordered to cure our midfield
problem.
The first chance did fall our way when Neil Roberts managed to flick on
a goal kick from Anthony Williams for Chris Llewellyn to run onto in the
box. The Darlington defence had stopped, expecting the ball to go out,
but no Wrexham player was on hand to turn Llewellyn’s low cross into the
net.
Ryan Valentine was the first player to end up in the book on his return to
his former club when he arrived late for a challenge in the eighteenth
minute to collect the first yellow card of the season.
Chances were still at a premium, with the home side yet to trouble
Anthony Williams, and Wrexham went close midway through the first half
when a long range shot from Mark Jones was deflected goalwards by Eifion
Williams but the ball went straight into the arms of a grateful Andy
Oakes.
Darlington were now seeing more of the ball and left winger Chris
Palmer, who signed on loan from Wycombe in midweek, fired in a dangerous
cross that Ryan Valentine did well to clear.
Debutant referee Karl Evans took his booking tally to two on the half
hour mark when Danny Williams joined Ryan Valentine in the book for a
late challenge on the halfway line.
There was another scare for Wrexham with ten minutes left when the ball
dropped to Julian Joachim inside the box from a corner but Danny
Williams reacted quickly to block his effort and also repelled the
follow up shot from Tim Ryan to safety.Another Darlington corner caused problems and Wrexham got lucky when
Miller could only divert the ball into the arms of Anthony Williams but
with the first half looking to end goalless, Darlington opened the
scoring with three minutes left.
Pawel Abbott, a £100,000 summer signing from Swansea, collected the ball
out wide but Richard Hope afforded him to much space and his floated
cross picked out Ian Miller completely unmarked in the six yard box with
his header leaving Anthony Williams routed to the spot.
There was still time left for Wrexham to force a couple of corners but
the Darlington goal remained intact as we headed in at half time a
goal down.
There was clearly a higher tempo to the game at the start of the second
half and it was Wrexham who had the first real chance when Ryan
Valentine found space down the left to deliver a cross to the far post
that was headed narrowly over by Michael Proctor.
The game then exploded into life after the hour mark when Neil Roberts
flicked the ball into the path of Michael Proctor who was now clean
through on goal. Oakes rushed off his line and brought the striker down
just outside of the area but it was not clear at first if the referee
had given a penalty or a free kick.
There was no doubt about Oakes receiving the red card and after
replacement keeper David Stockdale came on for Chris Palmer, the referee
finally awarded a free kick on the edge of the area.
It must have took at least five minutes for the game to restart and
Wrexham looked to be celebrating the equaliser when Proctor curled the
ball over the wall but Stockdale made a flying save to claw the ball
away for a corner.
Darlington fired a warning shot with twenty minutes left when Stephen
Foster fired over from a Tommy Wright knock down but Wrexham did not heed
this warning as Darlington doubled their advantage two minutes later.
Just like the opening goal, the second was far too easy for Darlington
as Julian Joachim latched onto a flick on and used his pace to get past
Hope before firing an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net from
the edge of the area.
Matty Done and Levi Mackin replaced Eifion Williams and Mark Jones in an
attempt to liven things up but despite having twenty minutes left to
make our man advantage count, we were just not clinical enough when the
chances came our way.
Chris Llewellyn set the first of these chances up for Shaun Pejic when
he delivered a free kick to the edge of the area but Pejic’s header was
off target and drifted wide of the goal.
Pejic got his bearings right the next time and his header from Done’s
corner was goal bound until Stockdale pulled off another smart save to
deny us once more.
Marc Williams was introduced for captain Neil Roberts in the final throw
of the dice but our hopes were over when Michael Proctor wasted the
opportunity to pull one back as the game was just about to go into five
minutes of added time.
Proctor found himself clean through on goal down the right side but
instead of taking on the shot, he attempted to pick out Marc Williams in
the box but his cross did not make it past the first defender to much
frustration from the travelling support.
A goal then would have set us up for the final minutes of the game but
the game just fizzled out after this, except for one more chance but
this time Proctor headed straight into the arms of Stockdale. |
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Match Reaction |
| Brian Carey: "Obviously I'm disappointed. We
created numerous opportunities throughout the match and not to start
taking them was frustrating. The lads in the dressing room are
disappointed with the situation, as they know we did enough not to have
lost this game. To compound things, we then made errors for their goals,
which I trust will not happen again. Generally I was pleased with our
approach to the game as a team. But from the number of crosses we have
put in front of their goal, not to have opened our account has cost us
dear. With our lack of finishing the result should have been 0-0, but we
made things worse for ourselves with a couple of mistakes at the back."
[Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more]
Martin Gray: "We had some luck today, but you need
that to win games. The substitute keeper has come on and produced a
couple of great saves to keep us in front. To be fair, Wrexham have
their chances but not taken them. There was no argument over the sending
off, but I was pleased with the way we reacted to it."
[Source:
Wrexham FC - click here for more] |
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