Wrexham 0 Rochdale 2

By Mark Currie, Daily Post

27 December 2007

WREXHAM found themselves bottom of the Football League last night after their fourth defeat in a row underlined the extent of the problems at the Racecourse.

Mansfield Town’s surprise success against high-flying Peterborough United saw the Stags move off the foot of the table at the expense of Brian Little’s struggling side, who have not won at home since the end of September.

And in the seventh Racecourse outing since a narrow 1-0 success over Lincoln City, the Dragons never looked likely to dent Rochdale’s impressive record on the road as the visitors cruised to a fifth away win of the campaign.

Even worse was Wrexham’s inability to offer much more than token resistance against opponents who had looked very ordinary when the sides shared a 0-0 draw in the corresponding fixture at Spotland earlier this month.

Home boss Brian Little had shuffled his pack again, restoring Trinidad international Silvio Spann to midfield as a replacement for Matt Crowell, who was sent off at Rotherham United last weekend.

And he recalled teenage full-back Neil Taylor for Wes Baynes, whose place was taken on the right flank by the experienced Ryan Valentine in an attacking 4-3-3 line-up against Rochdale, who had not played since December 8 because of the adverse weather conditions before the festive break.

But there were no obvious signs of rustiness from the visitors, who were quickly into their stride and forced a couple of early corners before taking a seventh minute lead.

Kallum Higginbotham did the initial damage on the left flank and striker Glen Murray flicked his cross to the back post for Adam Le Fondre to drive in a shot that was parried by goalkeeper Anthony Williams. There was no defender on hand to complete the clearance and Murray was quickest to react, hooking the ball into the net.

The Dragons, though, really should have cancelled out the lead within two minutes when a Ryan Valentine free-kick from the centre circle reached Steve Evans eight yards out. But, with visiting keeper Sam Russell wrong-footed, the big defender’s instinctive strike on the turn flew just the wrong side of the post.

Given their poor home record this season it was hardly surprising that Wrexham looked a bit fretful at the back and they were a little fortunate not to be punished further by a series of unforced errors.

Murray skied a decent chance high over the bar and only minutes later he was just beaten by the pace of Adam Rundle’s low cross from the left as the home side struggled to keep the ball for any length of time.

Wrexham were struggling to keep hold of the ball and when they did fashion some promising football, they just fell short, particularly on the half-hour when Mark Jones and Michael Proctor combined well to find Chris Llewellyn in space.

The former Wales international’s shot was not the best and skidded across the face of the goal where Neil Roberts, at full stretch, poked the ball agonisingly wide of the target.

But Wrexham’s problems were summed up in a passage of play immediately before the break when a wayward, lazy pass from Spann was intercepted by Murray, who failed to make the best of his opening.

And going the other way, Sam Aiston displayed great determination to reach the edge of the visitors’ penalty area before giving a disappointing lay-off to Mark Jones, whose weak, off-target effort demonstrated the midfielder’s lack of confidence.

The restart brought a bold – even desperate – bid from Little to add punch up front with Steve Evans being deployed as an emergency striker, Neil Roberts dropping back into midfield and defender Gareth Evans replacing Spann following another lightweight performance from the Caribbean import.

But Rochdale continued to pose more of a threat and Gary Jones was not far away with an effort from 25 yards when the home defence backed off him once more.

Visitors’ boss Keith Hill signalled his intentions by sending on former Racecourse striker Lee McEvilly to maintain the pressure on the Dragons’ defence, the Rochdale substitute immediately attracting a barrage of good-natured barracking from the home fans.

It proved to be an inspired change as the newcomer found the back of the net within four minutes of coming on when he turned in Rundle’s cross from close range. after Wrexham’s ragged back line was found wanting again.

With the result seemingly beyond doubt, Rochdale took their foot off the pedal and allowed their opponents to briefly raise hopes of mounting a late fightback. A goalmouth scramble saw Llewellyn’s effort cleared from under the crossbar and Russell made his first serious save of the afternoon midway through the second period to again deny the Wrexham man.