5-1. Disgraceful. That’s all I’m going to say on the Oldham game. Carlos was good, Emad was megged, Dearden had good moments, one-time Reds target Carlo Corazzin scored four. Bad.

953 - the key number. The amount of fans in attendance when Wrexham beat Bradford, a PREMIERSHIP outfit. OK, they’re not Liverpool or Man U but they are top-flight opposition. So why the poor attendance? To be honest I’m not sure. The club put the information out quickly, advertised the match heavily around the town (offering a big entry-fee decrease) and contacted the local schools, college and university to advertise the game. Oh, hang on a second, no they didn’t. The first I heard about the game was four hours before kick-off. Loads of my mates were saying on Saturday morning: 'I wish I'd known about the match.' Why didn’t the club promote the game as a high-profile friendly? I’ll stop moaning now. We won: a good display against top opposition.

OK, I am going to have to take the shine off the performance. Bradford played an open, passing, flowing game and thus allowed Wrexham to do the same. We saw what our lads can do (as we always do when we play teams from higher divisions). Unfortunately, Division 2 sides don’t let you play an open game - it's physical, tough, and you've got to fight for the ball. I am beginning to wonder whether we have too many ‘fancy’ players and no ‘scrappers’. Having silky skillz is all very good, but if you're not strong enough to battle for the ball there’s no point. People say: 'Why can't we beat teams in our division when we beat supposedly better teams than us? That's why - this division has no place for flicks, dodging and jinking. It requires brawling, a bit of hard-edged tackling and some backbone.

Unfortunately, there's not much to report on games-wise in the league; and we're out of all the cup events except the Walt Disney-sponsored WPC. The game against Rhyl was pretty poor. I know the game didn’t count for much, but Faulcs playing centre-back? I know we had trialists to give run outs to, but why not give the first-teamers a chance to stretch their legs. To concede four was a disgrace. At least we may be getting a new player out of it in Lee Trundle.

I recently read an article in the Daily Post about Kevin Dearden. He said that if we can keep up our consistency we can aim for the play-offs; I hope Kevin’s right. I think the defence is looking solid at the moment (when Emad ’s not in it!)' it's just goalscoring that needs to sort itself out. Rooster's on fire and Faulcs is playing intelligent football and I'm sue it will pay off very soon. Oh yeah, and the headline attached to the article was 'KEEPING THE ROBINS FAITH. Lazy journalism! Ripping off other people's puns - I am going to sue and give Red Passion the money to continue their good fundraising work for the club.

So far I’ve been a bit negative about everything. I’m not really sure what positive things I have to draw on at the moment. We're AVERAGE in the league ((losing to all the teams above us and beating the teams below us); we’re POOR in the cups (loads of first- round exits) and we seem quite content with that.

I'm going to have to sign off now. I apologise for the dullness and negativity of this column, but that’s how I feel right now. Glad to see Rooster’s revival carrying on; that man is a God and I hope the rest of the lads start taking to heart his hard-work ethic. Oh, wait. Good to see Fergie NOT being sold; he is quality and a bonus when he is on form. Also, great to see Waynnnne Phillips scoring again and playing well. I thought his return would be a waste of money but I'm hoping he's going to keep proving me wrong!

Keep the Faith ©

Matt Wedderkopp