Wrexham 1

Neil Roberts 77'

Notts County 0

 

Saturday 19 April 2008

 

Kick Off @ 15:00

Wrexham
Starting XI:
12 Gavin Ward
04 Shaun Pejic
05 Steve Evans
15 Mike WIlliams
25 Neil Taylor
32 Wes Baynes
18 Levi Mackin 71'
19 Andy Flemming 71'
20 Matty Done 90'
09 Neil Roberts
21 Marc WIlliams
Substitutes:
08 Danny Williams 71'
10 Michael Proctor
13 Michael Jones (GK)
22 Connall Mutagh 71'
24 Gareth Evans 90'
Stats:
12 Shots on Goal
6 Shots on Target
6 Shots off Target
52% Possession
12 Fouls Conceded
4 Corners
2 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Notts County
Starting XI:
25 Russell Hoult
02 Lee Canoville
04 Mike Edwards
27 Michael Johnson 46'
18 Stephen Hunt
28 Ryan Jarvis 86'
08 Neil MacKenzie
23 Richard Butcher
30 Miles Weston
09 Jason Lee
19 Danny Crow 51'
Substitutes:
05 Adam Tann
10 Lawrie Dudfield 51'
15 Paul Mayo 46'
21 Spencer Weir-Daley
29 Wayne Corden 86'
Stats:
10 Shots on Goal
3 Shots on Target
7 Shots off Target
48% Possession
11 Fouls Conceded
11 Corners
1 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Match Notes
Venue: Racecourse Ground
Attendance: 4,076
Half Time: Wrexham 0 Notts County 0
Referee: Anthony Bates

Match Incidents
77' Lee Canoville (Notts County)
77' Neil Roberts (Wrexham)
79' Wes Baynes (Wrexham)
90' Shaun Pejic (Wrexham)

Match Reports

WSA: Final Whistle Podcast

BBC: Wrexham 1-0 Notts County

Notts County FC: Wrexham 1-0 Notts County

TEAMtalk: Dragons live to fight another day

Wales on Sunday: Roberts gives Wrexham fresh hope

Wrexham FC: Wrexham 1 Notts County 0

Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 1 Notts. County 0

League Two Results
Accrington v Barnet
Bradford v Grimsby
Bury v Macclesfield
Chesterfield v Darlington
Hereford v Peterborough
Lincoln City v Brentford
Mansfield v Shrewsbury
Rochdale v Morecambe
Rotherham v Dag & Red
Stockport v MK Dons
Wrexham v Notts County
Wycombe v Chester

League Two Table
    PLD GD PTS
1 MK Dons (P) 44 44 93
2 Peterborough (P) 44 40 89
3 Hereford 43 24 79
4 Rochdale 44 23 78
5 Stockport 43 18 78
6 Darlington 44 26 75
7 Wycombe 44 14 75
8 Chesterfield 44 21 68
9 Bradford 44 4 62
10 Morecambe 44 -3 59
11 Brentford 44 -14 59
12 Rotherham 44 2 58
13 Barnet 44 -7 57
14 Bury 44 -5 55
15 Grimsby 44 -6 55
16 Lincoln City 44 -15 55
17 Shrewsbury 44 -9 48
18 Accrington 44 -34 48
19 Macclesfield 44 -18 46
20 Chester 43 -17 44
21 Notts County 44 -17 44
22 Dag & Red 44 -24 43
23 Mansfield 44 -17 42
24 Wrexham 43 -30 37

Last Three Games

Tue 22 Apr: Hereford (a) 19:45

Sat 26 Apr: Accrington (h) 15:00

Sat 03 May: Lincoln City (a) 15:00

Match Report
A goal from Neil Roberts with thirteen minutes left claimed the three points against Notts County and kept alive Wrexham’s faint hopes or retaining our Football League status.

Roberts was on hand to turn the ball in from man of the match Wes Baynes’ free kick and the delivery from Baynes was the one moment of quality in a poor game of football.

The three points for Wrexham has enabled us to narrow the gap to six points on Dagenham & Redbridge but we still need to win all our three remaining games to have any chance of staying up this season.

As promised, Brian Little made changes all over the pitch following the 3-0 defeat at Shrewsbury last weekend and the young players that came into the side did not let their manager down.

Gavin Ward remained in goal with a flat back four of Shaun Pejic, Steve Evans, Mike Williams and Neil Taylor. Ahead of them were a youthful midfield of Baynes, Levi Mackin, Andy Flemming and Matty Done with captain Neil Roberts moved up front to play alongside Marc Williams.

Wrexham found themselves down to ten men early on after Steve Evans surprisingly came of worse in a clash of heads with Neil Taylor and had to return to the dressing room for stitches.

County failed to make the most of this early advantage and Wrexham had an early opportunity when Baynes delivered a good ball across the County area that no Wrexham player even attempted to get on the end of.

Baynes, who is not frightened to let fly on this showing, put another shot into the arms of Hoult but County should have taken the lead with fifteen minutes gone.

Danny Crow was played onside by Steve Evans and he found a route on goal as a result but Gavin Ward did well to block his shot away as Wrexham scrambled the ball behind.

Wrexham’s back line continued to show nerves but County never had the quality upfront to trouble Ward and it was no surprise that the game remained goalless with half time approaching.

The best Wrexham fans had to cheer was another cross from Baynes that Roberts almost got on the end on and a shot from Marc Williams in injury time just about summed the first half up as it went well wide of the target.

Notts County made one change during the break with Paul Mayo replacing Michael Jackson but it was Wrexham who started the second half the better side.

Baynes was again the main attacking outlet down the right but the early corner he won was well cleared by the Magpies.

For all Wrexham’s improved play, the better chances were falling for the away aside who had made their second substitute of the afternoon when Lawrie Dudfield replaced Danny Crow.

The substitute was in the thick of the action almost immediately, forcing Mike Williams to give the ball away but was off target when it came to the important part of shooting.

That move just about summed the game up to this point with both sides not having the quality in the final third, even when the ball was gifted to them.

Notts County should have done better when Wrexham failed to defend a corner but Stephen Hunt put his header wide and there were more nervous moments in the Wrexham area after Ward failed to deal with a free kick.

Wrexham’s best move of the game so far came down the left and after Done picked out Marc Williams but his header lacked any power to trouble Hoult in the visitor’s goal.

With two thirds of the game gone, County looked to have made a mess of a free kick but this confusion only unsettled the Wrexham defence and Steve Evans was forced to head the ball from underneath his bar after Jason Lee got to the ball before Ward.

It was no surprise that Mackin and Flemming were replaced in the centre of midfield with twenty minutes left with Danny Williams and Connall Murtagh replacing the young pair who had tired in the previous ten minutes.

The presence of Williams added a lot more steel to our play and Murtagh gave us an extra attacking threat as he was always looking to support the front two in the box.

Murtagh was involved in the build up to the goal when his ball set Matty Done away down the left until it was brought to an end by a cynical foul by Lee Canoville.

The County full back was punished with the first yellow card of the game and his teammates paid the ultimate penalty when Roberts was left unmarked to turn the free kick from Baynes in at the far post.

The game opened up following the goal and it took superb saves from both keepers to keep the score line at 1-0.

Ward denied Lee with a finger tip save with six minutes left and Hoult somehow turned away a shot from Marc Williams as the game entered injury time.

It took a good block from Steve Evans to deny County for a final time as the survival battle continues for at least one more game.

Match Reaction
Brian Little: "If that win had come a few weeks ago then you feel the difference win the mentality gives people. It is a shame that it has taken so long. We worked hard today and I thought that the younger players did really well. We had to scramble a few away, early in the first half the ball dropped in our box a few times but we managed to get to them first. In the end we scored a good goal but could have had two. Both keepers made a magnificent save each late in the game really. We rode our luck a little bit in the first half, based on their balls into the box especially with us not being the biggest side today and we just lost a little bit of strength from set plays but I was pleased with everybody and thought that we got better was the game went on." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]

Ian McParland: "We had six or seven great chances, more than we've probably had in any other game this season. But, the reason we lost the game was down to bad defending again. We had a player going to ground again and conceding a free-kick, and then we switched off for the delivery and the ball was in the back of the net. That is why we got nothing out of the game, because they were never going to score in a million years - and the only way they were going to was from a set-play, and they did that. I've talked about it before, a few weeks ago in fact, about defenders not staying on their feet." [Source: Notts County FC - click here for more]