Wrexham 0

 

Rochdale 2

Glenn Murray 7' Lee McEvilly 60'

Wednesday 26 December 2007

 

Kick Off @ 15:00

Wrexham
Starting XI:
01 Anthony Williams
30 Wes Baines
05 Steve Evans
06 Richard Hope
03 Ryan Valentine
07 Mark Jones
16 Silvio Spann 46'
29 Sam Aiston
10 Michael Proctor
09 Neil Roberts
11 Chris Llewellyn
Substitutes:
04 Shaun Pejic
13 Michael Jones (GK)
15 Mike Williams
17 Josh Johnson
24 Gareth Evans 46'
Stats:
8 Shots on Goal
0 Shots on Target
8 Shots off Target
46% Possession
12 Fouls Conceded
4 Corners
1 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Rochdale
Starting XI:
21 Sam Russell
02 Simon Ramsden
04 Nathan Stanton
23 Rory McArdle
03 Thomas Kennedy
18 Kallum Higginbotham 90'
08 Gary Jones
06 Lee Crooks
11 Adam Rundle 88'
17 Glenn Murray
10 Adam Le Fondre 57'
Substitutes:
01 James Spencer (GK)
15 Joe Thompson 90'
19 Lee McEvilly 57'
27 Rory Prendergast 88'
31 Marcus Holness
Stats:
8 Shots on Goal
3 Shots on Target
5 Shots off Target
54% Possession
20 Fouls Conceded
8 Corners
1 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Match Notes
Venue: Racecourse Ground
Attendance: 4,302
Half Time: Wrexham Rochdale
Referee: Karl Evans

Match Incidents
4' Silvio Spann (Wrexham)
7' Glenn Murray (Rochdale)
40' Glenn Murray (Rochdale)
60' Lee McEvilly (Rochdale)

Match Reports

WSA: Final Whistle Podcast

BBC: Wrexham 0-2 Rochdale

Rochdale AFC: Wrexham 0 Dale 2

TEAMtalk: Dour Dragons hit rock bottom

Wrexham FC: Wrexham 0 Rochdale 2

Wrexham MAD: Wrexham 0 Rochdale 2

League Two Results
Barnet 3 Dag & Red 1
Bradford 2 Lincoln City 1
Brentford 1 Wycombe 3
Bury 0 Chesterfield 1
Darlington 1 Rotherham 1
Grimsby 1 Accrington 2
Macclesfield 0 Hereford 1
Mansfield 2 Peterborough 0
Morecambe 5 Chester 3
Notts County 1 MK Dons 2
Shrewsbury 3 Stockport 1
Wrexham 0 Rochdale 2

League Two Table
    PLD GD PTS
1 MK Dons 22 25 48
2 Hereford 22 15 42
3 Darlington 20 24 40
4 Peterborough 22 14 40
5 Rotherham 21 12 40
6 Chesterfield 21 13 37
7 Wycombe 22 3 36
8 Chester 21 8 35
9 Shrewsbury 22 5 34
10 Morecambe 21 4 33
11 Rochdale 19 4 31
12 Accrington 22 -8 29
13 Barnet 21 -4 28
14 Stockport 22 -2 27
15 Bradford 21 -4 24
16 Bury 21 -2 23
17 Brentford 22 -15 23
18 Notts County 21 -8 22
19 Macclesfield 22 -10 22
20 Grimsby 22 -12 21
21 Lincoln City 22 -16 18
22 Dag & Red 22 -20 18
23 Mansfield 20 -5 16
24 Wrexham 21 -21 15

Next Five Games

Sat 29 Dec: Stockport (h) 15:00

Tue 01 Jan: Chesterfield (a) 15:00

Wed 09 Jan: Llanelli (a) 19:00

Sat 12 Jan: Grimsby (a) 15:00

Tue 15 Jan: Mansfield (a) 19:45

Match Report
Wrexham fell to a fourth straight defeat and prop up the whole Football League after Rochdale left the Racecourse with a 2-0 victory.

Goals came early on in each half but Wrexham showed enough attacking endeavour in the first half to indicate there was a fighting chance following half time but a Lee McEvilly goal ended the game as a contest in the second half.

It was third time lucky for McEvilly as he scored in his third game against his former club this season after Rochdale had opened an early advantage when Glen Murray reacted quickest to the ball in the box.

Rochdale could easily have added to their advantage and it was a bit surprising that there was only one goal scored during an open first half.

Rochdale shut up shop after the break and it looked as if Wrexham, including manager Brian Little, had resigned themselves to defeat as he failed to introduce Josh Johnson, his only attacking option on a bench dominated by defenders and a spare goalkeeper.

Brian Little made two changes from the weekend with the suspended Matt Crowell being replaced by Silvio Spann in midfield and youngster Wes Baines was replaced by Neil Taylor with Ryan Valentine switching to the right back position.

In the build up to the game, goalkeeper Anthony Williams suggested that he wanted a quiet afternoon but the opening stages of the game were anything but for Wrexham’s number 1 as he was picking the ball out of the net after only seven minutes.

Wrexham failed to mark their counterparts from a Rochdale throw and although Neil Taylor managed to get a touch on the cross from Adam Rundle, it was Kallum Higginbotham who reacted the quickest in the box and he swept the ball in past Anthony Williams from only six yards out.

Despite this disappointing start, Wrexham should have been on level terms soon after when the referee waived play on for a foul on a Hope from Valentine’s free kick but Steve Evans placed his shot wide of the target despite being unmarked from only ten yards out.

The game was stretched during the early stages and Rochdale must have been thinking how they had not doubled their advantage following the Wrexham let off.

A loose ball from Spann played Rochdale in down their right and Richard Hope was lucky not to end up in the book when he hauled Murray to the ground with the Rochdale free kick being blocked by the wall.

Wrexham responded with our best move of the game when a neat touch from Proctor played Chris Llewellyn in on the edge of the area but he delayed his shot too long and this was blocked away but Neil Roberts’ effort from the rebound went agonisingly wide.

Rochdale were exposing the lack on any width in Wrexham’s formation and this allowed their full backs to press forward in support of every attack.

It seamed like a case of when rather than if Rochdale would score their second of the afternoon and Higginbotham should have done better when he dragged his shot wide from the edge of the area.

Rochdale had a goal disallowed when Williams in the Wrexham goal was impeded when coming to collect a corner but Wrexham finished the half with Evans having appeals for a penalty turned down and Proctor placing a free kick comfortably over the bar.

It was no real surprise that Brian Little replaced the out of sorts Spann during half time but he continued with the 4-3-3 formation.

To show the desperation of Wrexham’s plight, Steve Evans was pushed up front with Neil Roberts dropping back into midfield and Gareth Evans filling the gap left in the central defence.

There was an early chance for Rochdale at the start of the second half but it was Chris Llewellyn who went the closest when he fired into the side netting from the edge of the area.

The presence of Steve Evans up front did help us retain possession up the field but Evans inexperience as a striker showed as he was flagged offside on too many occasions, the Rochdale goal remaining intact.

Former Wrexham striker Lee McEvilly was introduced twelve minutes following the restart and he immediately silenced all his distracters in the Wrexham crowd as he effectively put the game beyond Wrexham three minutes later on the hour mark.

Gareth Evans was turned far too easily by McEvilly in the build up to the goal and this allowed Higginbotham to escape down the left.

Wrexham looked to have escaped his low ball across the six yard box but this was recovered by the impressive Adam Rundle who stood the ball up to the back post from where McEvilly scored with ease.

Rochdale took their foot off the gas after this and the only time Wrexham threatened Russell in the visitor’s goal was when we somehow failed to score from a goal mouth scramble and Llewellyn later drew Russell’s only save of the day at the expense of a corner.

But with no changes in formation or tactics forthcoming, Wrexham fell to an inevitable fourth successive defeat and the eighth time we have failed to score at home this season.

Match Reaction
Brian Little: "We knew going into the game that they were a good side so we tried to pick a team which was adventurous, to try and get at them, and try to win a game of football, but they were better than us. Was it a poor performance? Well there were things that I would like to be better, basic defending was poor, giving free-kicks away was poor, we could have scored two or three goals in the first-half ourselves but found ourselves 1-0 down. There are certain things that were right, but if you are not going to defend then you have got no chance. I think that today we were obviously beaten by a better team. If you look at their record, they are arguably one of the best footballing sides in the division and they showed that today. I have learnt an awful lot in the last few weeks when we have had some awful results but all I can say is that we will try and get it right. We have got a lot of work to do, I think when you are at the bottom of the table when something goes wrong then you are in danger of it being a hard day's work. Today was an example of that." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]