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Match Report |
Wrexham fell to a spectacular goal from substitute Luke Medley as
Bradford took all three points in an evenly contested game at Valley
Parade.
All the goals came after half time and it was Bradford who opened the
scoring through Eddie Johnson but Neil Roberts equalised within five
minutes when he converted a Danny Williams cross.
Wrexham now looked like the team most likely to take all three points
with Matty Done having the better of his full back all second half but
the winning goal eluded us and Medley fired in what proved to be the
winner with twelve minutes left.
Wrexham were left annoyed when referee Oliver missed a blatant hand
ball in Bradford’s box two minutes after their second goal but referee
Oliver and his assistant just waived play on.
Wrexham remained unchanged for the second successive game and this meant
that Steve Evans and Mark Jones had to settle for a place on the bench
after returning from international duty with Wales.
It was Bradford who were quickest out of the block and enjoyed a lot of
possession in the Wrexham half of the field.
The first chance came the way of Ndumbu-Nsungo who had a shot from the edge
of the area that took a deflection off a Wrexham defender and looped over
Williams and rebounded off the bar with Simon Spender on hand to clear
the danger.
Bradford were still pushing forward and Paul Evans had a shot from the
edge of the area that Williams required two attempts to gather on the
edge of his six yard box.
Wrexham’s best chance of the half fell to Matty Done after he was left in
acres of space down the left. Done had advanced to the edge of the area
before unleashing a shot that was destined for the top corner of the
near post until Ricketts tipped the ball over the bar.
Wrexham were restricting Bradford to half chances at best but
Ndumbu-Nsungo went close after executing an over head kick perfectly and
this forced Williams into pushing the ball around his far post.
Our only other note worthy chance fell to Chris Llewellyn after Done had
picked him out with a cross from the left but Llewellyn’s header lacked
any real power to trouble Ricketts in the Bradford goal.
Bradford had enjoyed the better chances in the first half and should
have taken the lead with minutes of the first half to spare but Nix got his header wrong
when he was picked out unmarked in the box.
After keeping Bradford at bay for the first half, Wrexham could only
hold on for four minutes after the restart as Bradford broke quickly up
field from our corner.Wrexham’s attack, as ever, came through Matty Done down the left and it
was his shot from outside of the area that forced Ricketts to concede a
corner by making a save.
Wrexham failed to make anything from the corner as Bradford broke
quickly to the edge of our penalty area. Richard Hope managed to get a
blocking challenge in to dispossess Omar Daley but the ball fell
straight to Eddie Johnson and he drilled the ball low passed Williams
into the far corner of the net.
Bradford, roared on by a 13,000 crowd, surged forward and we responded
well from this set back and it was no surprise that Matty Done started
the spell of pressure that led to the first of three corners that
eventually ended in our equaliser five minutes later.
Done was enjoying himself against substitute Simon Ainge and skipped
past him and into the box but Ricketts managed to turn his cross behind
with Michael Proctor waiting to pounce at the far post.
Bradford could only clear the first corner behind and Danny Williams
connected at the near post with the second one from Chris Llewellyn but
Ricketts made another save by pushing the ball around the post.
The third corner from Llewellyn was delivered deep and Bradford failed
to clear their lines and the ball ended at the feet of Danny Williams
down the left side of the area.
He took the ball past the Bradford defender and managed to cross it back
before it went out of play and Neil Roberts was on hand to power a
header past Ricketts from ten yards out.
Bradford responded with two free kicks with Williams dealing comfortably
with Heckingbottom’s first effort but he did have to turn the second
one from Paul Evans around the post for a Bradford corner.
Michael Proctor had a couple of half chances but he first failed to
connect with across from Done and then he could not keep his header from
Llewellyn’s cross down and the ball dropped the wrong side of the bar.
Matty Done was still skinning Simon Ainge with almost with every run but
his delivery was not up to his approach play and chances went begging as
a result.
Both teams made changes for the final fifteen minutes of the game with
Eifion Williams replacing Neil Roberts but the change from Bradford paid
dividends almost immediately.
Luke Medley had only been on the field for two minutes after replacing
Barry Conlon when he received a pass from Nix down the left channel.
He appeared to be going nowhere until the ball sat up nice from him and
he hit a sweet left foot half volley that dipped over Williams and into the
far corner of the net.
It was a stunning way to end his first touch as a professional player
and it gave Williams no chance in the Wrexham goal.
The goal came from nowhere as Wrexham were in the ascendancy at the time
and we should have had a penalty two minutes later when Nix handled in
the box but referee Oliver was unsighted and waived play on after his
assistant failed to signal for a penalty.
Wrexham made two further changes with Mark Jones and Josh Johnson
replacing Danny Williams and Matty Done but it was Bradford who had the
best chances when they fired low balls across the face of goal on two
occasions but no striker was on the end of them.
There was a sense of disappointment at the end as a draw would have been
a fair result and what we deserved from a good away performance but the
strike from Medley was good enough to win any game of football. |
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Match Reaction |
| Brian Carey: "I'm gutted with the result but I thought we
played very well. I've a couple of grips and moans, especially about not
getting a penalty decision in our favour for what looked a hand ball. We
are getting better as a team, but you still have to get results. I was
pleased about the way we went about things and we knew it was going to
be tough. We weathered the storm for the first ten minutes, got back
into it and I think dominated for a major part of the game. Their winner
was a fantastic strike and give the lad credit. If you are going to
lose, then at least to something like that."
[Source:
Wrexham FC -click here for more] |
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