08 April 2002

High and Low Fives as Wrexham Go Down

By David Lovett

THE fluttering red dragon of Wales and Scottish solitaire were aptly at half-mast on a day of elation and relegation at a sun-kissed Racecourse.

The elation went to a Wrexham-born lad who scored all five, equalling a 70-year club record. But even that was eclipsed by results elsewhere that sent Wrexham down into the third division. It was a day of high and lows.

Lean Lee Jones gorged himself on all five goals and that hasn’t been done in the league by anyone in a Wrexham shirt since the baggy shorts and slicked-back hair days of Tommy Bamford, way back in 1934. 
The little south-Walian - Wrexham’s red baron -scored five in an 8-1 league win over Carlisle United. On Saturday, under clear blue skies, it was Jones’ turn to be the ace in the pack. ‘Jonah’ had a whale of a time. 

But the man with 44 on his back is Wrexham born and bred and proud of it and he left the ground with the matchball and a heavy heart. One day he’ll hopefully tell his grandchildren of the spring afternoon when it was Jones 5, Cambridge United 0. . . .and Wrexham were relegated. 

That took the gloss off Jones’ master strokes. It was the blow-torch that peeled off what should have been a near-perfect finish to an eventful season. 

Relegated Cambridge were taught a painful lesson in the art of finishing by jaunty Jones. Yet the U’s didn’t come as fodder for anyone and after 45 minutes endeavour were still only a goal adrift. They also came closest to scoring before Jones stuck the boot in. An eighth minute mistake by the otherwise impeccable Dan Bennett gave Shane Tudor a glimpse of goal and Marius Rovde had to beat away his blurring shot. 
But then manager Denis Smith’s new-look attack kicked-in. Smith surprised a few by leaving out top scorer Craig Faulconbridge as well as being without the suspended Lee Trundle. Jones’ foil up front was Andy Morrell and those two glinting blades cut Cambridge to pieces. Morrell was directly and indirectly involved in all five goals and if anyone deserved to get on the scoresheet he did. 

He put the first goal on a plate for Jones who gobbled it up, but the remaining four courses were slow to follow. Paul Barrett was always prepared to have-a-go and the hard-working Morrell should have done better than steer a header wide from a cross knocked in by Jim Whitley, surely Wrexham’s player of the season? 

THUNDEROUS 

Whitley was given a further forward role on the right and he was comfortable there. Bennett came in at left-back and again did enough to further his hopes of a contract for next season. 

The peroxide mop of Tony Scully was always in the thick of the action for the U’s and he put an off-balance diving header wide nine minutes before the break following another good deliver in from the right by Tudor. 

Darren Ferguson then fed a precision pass into Barrett but keeper Lionel Perez kept his shot out with his legs before Jones whipped another effort wide. But the U’s were lambs to the slaughter after the break. 
Jones scored two in a minute with assists from Morrell to which the kop asked: ‘Are you watching, Faulconbridge?’

He was. Wrexham were by now in full flow and only Perez’s sprawling legs denied Shaun Holmes another goal after Ferguson had again played a slide-rule pass. Waynne Phillips had a shot blocked and those telescopic legs of Perez kept out Jones again. Barrett’s brilliant cross set up goal number four. Morrell’s header came back out off the crossbar and Jones was in smartly to beat Perez.

Relentless work by Morrell helped set up the fifth and final goal. He charged down Fred Murray’s clearance and got the ball into Jones who completed the rout. Jones came off to thunderous applause as he made way for Hector Sam, who was soon denied by Perez, before Alex Revell headed against a post for the visitors. There was still time for Perez to throw out an arm like a traffic cop to block another Barrett shot and the flamboyant Frenchman also denied Carlos Edwards, who had replaced Ferguson. 

In the end Wrexham went down but the real reason for their relegation was painted on a much wider canvas, spread over nine months. They’ve conceded far too many goals and not scored enough. They’ve also lost and drawn games they should have won and that ultimately takes you down. 

Wrexham were fourth from bottom when Brian Flynn and Kevin Reeves took their money and left. Joey Jones then took over as caretaker-manager for two home games that were also lost before Smith got a job he didn’t need and one his missus still wonders why he took in the first place. That’s all water under the bridge now as Wrexham have been swept down a division amid still none-too-clear talk of a takeover.
But the inescapable fact now is Wrexham will be in the third division next season and that should surprise no one. You can’t make silk purses out of sow’s ears. And non-contract players, trialists and even scholars are manifestly not the answer to questions that were asked long before Saturday. Play with fire long enough and eventually you’ll get burned. And, let’s face it, there’s been a few Neros fiddling away as the club has been burning. 

Smith now has to sift through the debris and hopefully lead the club Phoenix-like from the ashes. It isn’t going to be easy.