Chester City 0, Wrexham 1

01 December 2004

By Mark Currie

WREXHAM manager Denis Smith saluted his side's second crucial victory in the space of four days after Juan Ugarte's debut strike at Chester last night.

The Dragons followed up Saturday's league win at Huddersfield by booking their place in the northern semi-finals of the LDV Vans Trophy at the Saunders Honda Stadium.

And Smith then called on his players to make it three out of three on Friday at Scunthorpe in their FA Cup second round tie.

"It's an important week in which we have had to win three games," he said. "We've done that in two of them and we've got to get the hat-trick on Friday.

"It has been all about winning. We needed three points on Saturday and we've got them.

"We've had a derby tonight and we've got a big game to finish it off at Scunthorpe on Friday.

"I felt we were fairly comfortable in the first half, and we scored a very good goal which was finished well by Juan.

"In the second half, Chester had to come at us and fair play to them, they put us under pressure. They threw men forward but I always felt we would nick a second goal. That's what I was waiting for. I thought it would come sooner or later but it didn't.

"But in the end these sort of games are just about winning."

The Dragons, roared on by 1,700 fans who had been able to obtain tickets for the first meeting of the teams in seven years, had been good value for their half-time lead, provided by Spanish striker Ugarte.

But they were definitely second-best after the break and rode their luck to hang on, although substitute Hector Sam twice had late inviting opportunities to make the scoreline more comfortable.

With the visitors fielding an unchanged line-up and naming the same substitutes who were involved against Huddersfield Town, Smith might have been employing a measure of kidology on Monday when he played down the chances of Scott Green, Andy Holt, Chris Armstrong and Andy Dibble being fit for the short journey down the A483.

Meanwhile, Smith's City counterpart Ian Rush made four changes from the weekend side beaten 3-1 at home by Oxford United, arguably resting key men for what could be seen as a more important FA Cup date at Halifax Town this coming Saturday.

Second-choice keeper Wayne Brown was preferred to regular stopper Chris MacKenzie, while Stephen Vaughan and Paul Carden came in at the back in place of Richard Hope.

Darren Edmondson and midfielder Robbie Booth made way for Sean Hessey in a 4-5-1 formation with Kevin Rapley as the lone striker.

And confirmation that it was a season's record attendance for the League Two side came after officials were forced to delay the kick-off for 10 minutes because of long queues waiting to come through the turnstiles.

When the action eventually got under way Wrexham might have scored in the second minute but Mark Jones was unable to force home a headed cross supplied by Ugarte.

And the home side forced the first save of the match when Matt Baker went down to his left to hold Kevin Ellison's free kick from 20 yards.

City, as was to be expected, were working hard, particularly in midfield, and when Jones was penalised, Kevin McIntyre met Stephen Vaughan's free-kick with a glancing header which skidded only inches wide of a post before Craig Morgan had to make an important tackle to prevent Rapley homing in on goal.

But Wrexham were showing better quality on the ball and, although Jones was unfortunate to see his dipping volley from 25 yards scrape the crossbar, they went ahead in the 19th minute.

Simon Spender fed Green, whose first-time pass got Chris Llewellyn away down the right and the striker's low cross was steered in at the near post by Ugarte to record his first goal for the Dragons.

The tensions was never far below the surface and there was a spate of three bookings in quick succession, a caution for City's Hessey being followed by cards for Wrexham pair Ugarte and Shaun Pejic.

No quarter was being asked or given in an increasingly fired-up atmosphere, which Wrexham did their best to defuse with a spell of possession play which delighted their large following and frustrated the home team, whose few efforts on goal were from distance and failed to trouble Baker.

City's best chance of the game so far came immediately from the restart when substitute Robbie Booth, a half-time replacement for Ben Davies, whipped in a cross from the right which Stewart Drummond headed wide from 12 yards.

And Wrexham were lucky not to concede an equaliser in a carbon-copy move two minutes later as Ellison could not keep his header on target from Drummond's centre.

The Dragons then enjoyed more fortune in Chester's next attack when Ellison's header beat Baker but rebounded off the bar, the keeper recovering quickly to block Booth's follow-up effort.

The visitors were in danger of being over-run as their rejuvenated opponents looked a yard faster to the ball and they squandered the opportunity of a quick break by Llewellyn when Ugarte ran into a blind alley.

Ellison, his side's most dangerous threat, went close to a 68th-minute equaliser when another first-time ball by Booth put the midfielder in space and clear, but his volley flew into the side-netting.

With Armstrong and Sam now on for Jones and Ugarte, Wrexham might have extended their lead in the 73rd minute but Green's stunning shot was equally matched by the save from Brown, who did well to hold his stinging effort from 25 yards. A superb turn by Sam presented Llewellyn with a chance but his shot lacked power and, although Armstrong then stooped to head Green's centre past the keeper, the effort was disallowed for offside.

The game was poised on a knife-edge and both sets of fans had to endure a nail-biting finish.

Sam twice failed to beat Brown when in a one-on-one situation.

And Chester were left to rue another agonisingly close effort from Ellison before Phil Bolland somehow headed another excellent centre from Booth wide of the Wrexham goal from eight yards when he really should have taken the tie into extra time.