Daily Post

Huddersfield 1, Wrexham 2

Mark Currie
By Mark Currie, Daily Post

29/11/04

Chris ArmstrongFORMER Liverpool defender Alan Hansen will forever be haunted by his dismissal of a young Manchester United side as championship material in the season that the emerging talents of Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and the Neville brothers went on to prove him wrong.

But if that youthful team proved the exception to the rule, the canny Scot's view that the experience factor counts just as much as ability and hard work is shared by most people in the game, including managers Denis Smith and Peter Jackson.

The Racecourse boss, whose starting line-up at the Galpharm Stadium included just four first-choice players, highlighted the contribution of veterans Scott Green and Chris Armstrong to a much-need victory. But his Huddersfield counterpart admitted that mistakes by two of his younger team members had ultimately proved to be the difference between the combatants.

It would be stretching a point to suggest that Green, 34, whose last Football League appearance was for the Dragons in a 3-0 win at Bury in May 2003, seemed not to have been away. But he slotted seamlessly into midfield alongside the equally tried and tested Darren Ferguson while his measured and controlled performance demonstrated he still has plenty to offer.

"I thought Scott Green did well and he proved you don't always have to chase round like a headless chicken to put on a performance," said Smith. "He walked through the game, really, until he got cramp late on, but he's done me a great job."

And the Dragons chief saluted the often maligned Armstrong for his guile in winning the second-half penalty that ended a run of four straight defeats.

"Chris sucked the defender in, he used his experience," he added. "He saw the lad coming, slowed it down and then nicked the ball away. "It was an experienced player sucking another into a tackle he possibly should not have made. If it was my centre-half I would have told him the last thing you do is go down to ground in the box."

For his part, a disappointed Jackson claimed a lacklustre team display was compounded by the errors from young defenders Nathan Clarke - who was out-jumped by Andy Holt for Wrexham's opening goal - and David Mirfin, who conceded the penalty which Armstrong converted.

"Nathan was caught out early on but he had a steady game thereafter," said the Terriers boss. "He is one of the best young centre-backs in the division by far, but it's a steep learning curve and he had another lesson this afternoon.

"As for the penalty there were a few who felt it was justified and others who said the defender didn't make contact. But I've told young Mirfin that if you go to ground, it's always a possibility the decision will go against you.

"And Armstrong is a very experienced player while Mirfin is still learning his trade."

Goals apart, the game's most telling statistic was that Wrexham keeper Matt Baker did not have a meaningful save to make during the whole of the second half, even though the visitors were forced into an unusual reshuffle at the interval.

Holt, who had soldiered on after receiving a kick on the calf, failed to re-appear and Chris Llewellyn was switched to the left flank with Armstrong joining lively Spanish striker Juan Ugarte up front.

And when the visitors were reduced to 10 men after Hector Sam was harshly dismissed with 10 minutes remaining, Huddersfield still could not find a way past Dennis Lawrence, Shaun Pejic and Craig Morgan.

"I was pleased with the performance when you consider the starting lineup had only four lads who would normally be playing," added Smith. "I thought we played good football, we were disciplined, we worked hard and it was a result we deserved."

It was teenager Morgan, making his first start of the season, who struck the first psychological blow for the Dragons with a firm but fair challenge on Huddersfield favourite Andy Booth, back in action after a three-match absence.

The big striker needed extensive treatment to an ankle injury but was to last only 18 minutes before making way for substitute Junior Mendes.

The visitors inflicted more damage in the ninth minute, going ahead when the foraging Holt met Ferguson's inviting cross. The wing-back thumping a powerful header beyond the grasp of Paul Rachubka.

The home side had to defend desperately as Holt continued to wreak havoc, seeing one cross headed behind by Booth before Steve Yates' last-ditch intervention prevented his pass from reaching Llewellyn.

Prompted by Ferguson, Wrexham were bright and inventive as Ugarte and Llewellyn combined well. And the Spaniard would surely have opened his account but for an excellent tackle from Clarke before Huddersfield regrouped.

Twice in the space of a few minutes Baker preserved the lead, blocking a fierce shot from Mendes and then flinging himself to the right to turn away another good effort from the striker. But the keeper had no chance with the equaliser four minutes before the break.

Pawel Abbott spread the ball wide to Tony Carss, whose cross to the near post was misjudged by Pejic, the ball bouncing over him to Danny Schofield, who drove a rising shot in off the underside of the crossbar.

Half-time substitute Armstrong made his decisive contribution within four minutes, taking Ferguson's through ball in his stride before teasing Mirfin into the challenge and then confidently stroking the penalty past Rachubka, who then kept his side in contention by holding a fine effort from Mark Jones, following more excellent play by Ugarte.

For all their second-half possession and territorial advantage, Hudders-field rarely looked capable of hitting back.

One set-piece, when a Carss cross was met by Clarke with a header that flew harmlessly high and a first-time off-target volley from Rob Edwards, was the sum total of their endeavours.

And it was only when Sam, on the field for just three minutes, was redcarded for an alleged stamp on Jon Worthington, that Wrexham looked to be vulnerable.

One or two clearances smacked more of hope than purpose but when the likes of Green and Ferguson put their foot on the ball, Armstrong was always available to head for the corner flag and run down the clock.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN: Rachubka; Mirfin, Yates (Brown 73), Clarke; Holdsworth, Worthington, Brandon, Schofield (Edwards 58), Carss; Booth (Mendes 18), Abbott. Subs: Senior, Fowler.

BOOKED: Mirfin.

WREXHAM: Baker; Pejic, Morgan, Lawrence; Spender, Green (Crowell 88), Ferguson, Jones, Holt (Armstrong 45); Ugarte (Sam 81), Llewellyn. Subs: Dibble, Mackin.

BOOKED: Holt

SENT OFF: Sam

REFEREE: Paul Danson

ATT: 11,127

* MAN OF THE MATCH... Juan Ugarte

Several choices but the striker shone brightly.