games 33-39
match reports...
Dire
Game 33 – Bournemouth (0-1) by Nick GriffithsPre-match background: After what was a super performance against Wigan, and with Flynn putting the same team out, I felt there was a good chance of three points from this match. It was also nice to see the old stand demolished, apparently it’s ahead of schedule!
Conditions: Rain on and off for most of the afternoon, also freezing cold
Selection: Wrexham - Cartwright, McGregor, Hardy, Brammer, Spink, Ridler, Cooke, Russell (Chalk 73), Connolly, Roberts (Edwards 60), Ward; Unused: Walsh; Booked: Ward, Spink.
AFC Bournemouth: Ovendale, Young, Vincent, Howe, Warren, Rawlinson (Rodrigues 89), Cox, Robinson, Stein, Fletcher, Boli; Unused: Town, Dean; Booked: Boli, Cox.
Tactics: Same as every other week
Ebb and flow: Absolutely dire match. Wrexham produced a below average performance in the first half and followed that with an awful performance in the second half, although Bournemouth did close up shop after they scored, so maybe this contributed to that.
Atmospherics: The odd shout here and there, but what can you expect with a crowd of 2,700?
Goals: The goal that won the match for Bournemouth came midway through the first half when Phil Hardy failed to clear a cross, the ball ended up with Bournemouth’s on-loan striker and Racecourse favourite Roger Boli, who’s shot was blocked, and unfortunately ended up on the right with Steve Fletcher who had space to hit a good 20 odd yard shot, although Cartwright should really have done better.
Incident: The major point in the match as far as Wrexham were concerned was a farcical incident involving Peter Ward and The Ref. Wrexham had won a freekick about 7 – 8 yards outside the box. Ward placed the ball, and then asked the ref if he would move the wall of Bournemouth players back. The ref refused to do this, though it was obvious the wall was not at a suitable distance, and eventually booked Peter Ward for arguing / not taking the freekick. After booking Ward, the ref went straight over to the wall and moved them back a few yards! So it seems Ward was booked for being right, absolutely ridiculous performance from the ref. Other incidents were a couple of Penalty shouts, which I have seen given in the past, though it was more of ball to hand really.
Post-match verdict: Rubbish. We seem to be two faced this season, one game looking encouraging, then the next looking as if we are not capable of beating Sunday League opposition. Players and management need to buck up their ideas fast, otherwise come February we will be in the middle of a Relegation Battle, although we are virtually already in one.
Quote Unquote: ‘All credit to Bournemouth – they defended deep, got men behind the ball and made it difficult for us to break down’ (Flynn, Wrexham Mail, 23.12.98)
Man of the Match: Dean Spink. Excellent performance from Dean playing central defence. Also Brammer had another good game.
Unlucky
Game 34 - Man City (0-1) by Gareth Venn
Pre-match background: This was the game most had been waiting for since the fixtures were announced back in August. With a bumper crowd expected, it was hoped some Christmas joy would be brought to the Racecourse.
Conditions: A rotten day greeted the 9,048 spectators, it did not stop raining all day and the swirling winds only added to these terrible conditions.
Selection: Rush was given the nod, with Roberts and Edwards both injured it meant Andy Morrell was on the subs bench. Owen replaced Russell after recent poor displays from the Rooster. Spink kept his place at the back, with Carey reportedly fit for the FA Cup match.
Tactics: Normal, pass it to the one winger and hope for a cross or rely on Brammer to carve an opening.
Ebb and flow: The poor conditions did not turn this game into a bad contest, with the match flowing well. A fast moving first half saw Wrexham with most of the possession and using it to attack. Wrexham's passing was still something of a let down, but this was positive play. And the team went in at half time to a flood of applause, for a change. The second half was a bit of a reverse as Man City came out looking to get the upper hand. The Reds continued to attack but the final ball was quite often a let down. The midfield proved quite a battleground as the midfielders constantly tussled with one another, especially Ward and Pollock. It was good to see Brammer put in another strong performance and Rush too worked really hard to track back and get the ball, but this was because the supply to the forwards dried up in the second-half.
Atmospherics: The huge following from Manchester, that filled the away end, was in full voice and completely out sang the Wrexham faithful. Which sadly has been so common this season, but have they anything to sing about?
Goals: A depressingly easy goal from a second-half corner. It came in and Wiekens simply headed in as he was unmarked. Not a pretty sight.
Incident: A mad goalmouth scramble right at the end of the first-half after Cooke had a fine header brilliantly saved and then Rush followed up only to have the shot deflected wide. Brammer had a long range, thunderbolt of a shot excellently saved by the Man City keeper. The one thing to brighten things up was the sight of tiny Martyn Chalk deliberately knocking over the big build of Jamie Pollock (that's with a P!!). Finally Chalk burst through at the end all on his own, only to do what he has all too much in the past and blasted it straight at the keeper’s legs. A sickening sight for the fed-up crowd.
Post-match verdict: The result brought out all the classic sayings; "we were unlucky to win", "we had the better of the play" and "we should have scored." Which annoyingly are true as we were unlucky, did have the possession and should have scored. But at the end of the day we lost, due to poor finishing, which is costing the club dear these days. Both keepers put in great performances, especially Weaver who made several brilliant stops against Brammer and Cooke. This was a great game to watch with plenty of heart in mouth action but all too frustrating as so many opportunities went begging. Rush came close to netting his first goal and in all fairness was damned unlucky.
Quote Unquote: ‘It was nice to ride our luck, but it was one of our worst displays of the season’ (Joe Royle, Daily Mirror, 27.12.98)
Man of the Match: David Brammer
Struggling
Game 35 - Preston NE (1-3) by Lloyd Edwards
Pre-match background: Wrexham had performed well in the Boxing Day fixture against Manchester City; but defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory, as they say. Would Wrexham raise their game again to compete with one of the division’s top four teams? The feeling was we would struggle again.
Conditions: A cold blustery wind and some showers; the ball would zip around off the wet surface.
Selection: Carey returns from injury (earlier than expected! ) to replace Spink as captain. Spink apparently picked up an injury in the Manchester City game. Same starting line-up otherwise and the same substitution: Chalk replaces Owen midway through the second-half.
Tactics: Two main tactics employed: (1) Long high balls played from defence towards Rush and Connolly who were usually outjumped by the taller PNE defenders; (2) Controlled passing movements through midfield which mostly broke down when an under-hit pass was easily intercepted by a PNE player.
Ebb and flow: Bright start by Wrexham, creating two or three goalscoring opportunities; Preston soon take control, dominating the first-half. Wrexham enjoy a good spell in the second-half, but any hopes of an equaliser end when Preston score their third goal. Rush has a header saved on the line in the final minute.
Atmospherics: Wrexham took a better-than-average away support to this bank holiday fixture. Generally good natured banter and chants between the ‘Red Army’ and PNE fans in the Bill Shankly Kop Stand. The volume was turned up when the score was 1-2.
Goals: A cross from the left causes panic in the Wrexham defence and after a goalmouth scramble the ball drops kindly for Nogan to turn and score from six yards: 0-1 (22 mins). Another sweeping move by PNE and another cross from the left to the far post, Lee Cartwright wins a clean header above Hardy: 0-2 (31 mins). Ward takes a viciously inswinging corner and Gregan, under an enormous amount of pressure, is forced to head the ball into his own net with the goalkeeper stranded (well, it makes better reading than: ‘Ward’s corner is inexplicably headed into his own net by Gregan’): 1-2 (60 mins). Lee Cartwright easily out-paces the Wrexham defence and scores with an angled drive past the advancing Mark Cartwright: 1-3 (70 mins).
Incident: Who ate all the pies? The refreshments stall under the Bill Shankly Kop Stand ran out of pies at half-time! !
Post-match verdict: To be honest, Wrexham got what they deserved out of this match. Two defeats over the Christmas holidays leaves us hovering dangerously close to the relegation zone. Who can be optimistic about the FA Cup Third Round tie against Scunthorpe? Performances need to improve very very quickly.
Quote Unquote: ‘We are in the danger-zone and there’s going to be a dogfight’ (Flynn, Evening Leader, 29.12.98)
Man of the match: Connolly, caused a lot of problems for the Preston defence whenever the ball was at his feet and playing the ball into space behind the PNE defence, also covered a lot of ground tackling back defensively
Kingly
Game 36 - Scunthorpe (4-3) by Dean Domerecki
Pre-match background: Three straight defeats for Wrexham, against the visitors’ recent burst of form moving them up to play-off hopefuls. Not too optimistic, the general opinion being divided between those who expect us to play badly and not win, and those who expect us to play well and not win.
Conditions: Damp pitch, intermittent rain, cloudy and cold
Selection: Macca moves across to cover for the absent Phil Hardy, with Ridler taking over at right back; Spink partners Carey in the middle; Chalk and Rush wide in midfield, Roberts and Connolly up front. Possibly, we argue, our best side given the cup-tied Cooke.
Tactics: For us, evidence of some work in training on the word ‘left’, as we looked to use the whole width of the pitch to take the game to Scunthorpe. For them, a mixture of hoofing and chasing – until they were losing by two goals.
Ebb and flow: A game of two unequal parts. Wrexham straight out of the blocks, with good movement and plenty of bite in the challenge for the whole of the first half. Constant pressure on the Scunthorpe goal should have produced some reward – within a five-minute spell, a Rush shot flashed narrowly wide and Connolly had two presentable chances, but fluffed both. However, as usual, we failed to capitalise and had to rely on an own-goal for the half-time lead; Scunthorpe attacks were very few, but did include a disallowed goal (for what?) following a Cartwright near-approach to a cross. Scunthorpe’s football in the first-half was diabolical, befitting an average park side in intelligence, but after the goal flurry at the start of the second-half, they decided to play football and from that point controlled the game completely, the Wrexham midfield collapsing and allowing free rein for the visitors to attack. Had we not had a two-goal cushion at the start of that period, we would have been struggling – perhaps it’s because we so rarely enjoy such a position that we seem not to know how to defend it.
Atmospherics: A good, spirited crowd of 4,429 did produce a reasonable cup atmosphere and plenty of noise – it’s just a pity that most of it came from the Marston’s stand.
Goals: 1-0 from Logan’s deflection on 22 minutes – but was Brammer crossing or shooting? 2-0 after 47 minutes, Connolly beating two defenders to head in Ward’s excellent cross at the far post. 2-1 on 50 minutes, Housham heading in from a deep cross. 3-1 after 56 minutes, Macca’s ball into the box flicked on by Roberts, finished by Connolly at the second attempt. 3-2 on 70 minutes (Eyre’s free-kick deflected by our wall) and 3-3 with five minutes to go, as Harsley executed a perfect lofted pass into the net from 30 yards out, past the strangely stranded Cartwright. And in the end, in the second of two minutes of extra time, Brammer’s thumping 30-yard shot, beaten down but not away by Scunthorpe’s keeper, buried in the corner by Connolly – 4-3 and through.
Incident: Enough already.
Post-match verdict: A good result and team performance for 60 minutes or so. Very heartening to see the movement and commitment in the first-half, which should bode well for the remaining league fixtures. However, will Wrexham revert to the narrow, restricted pattern of play we are used to, or stay with the extra breadth and scope we showed? I just hope that we don’t wait until we have to win every game before giving ourselves the best chance of doing so – BF please note!
Quote Unquote: ‘After we had fought our way back to 3-3 we had what I thought was a blatant penalty appeal turned down not once but twice’ (Brian Laws, Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, 4.1.99)
Players: Cartwright - still some strange decision-making, which cannot inspire confidence in his colleagues (or me); McGregor – looked sound on his wrong (wrong?) side, with good runs up the line; Ridler – at home at right-back, strong in the air as usual; Brammer – a storming performance throughout, adding weight to our attack; Spink – controlled and decisive – surely his best position?; Carey – doesn’t appear fully fit, although commitment not in question; Chalk – excellent work wide out in the first half, but faded badly later in the game; Roberts – workrate and passion undiminished throughout the match – incredible energy; Connolly – there when it mattered three times, much more consistent over the 90 minutes than normal; Rush – good positive contribution, with some beautiful passing and movement in the first-half; Ward – normal combative performance and reliable distribution, but also drifted out of the game in the second-half; Referee (Lee Cable) – managed to enrage both sets of supporters roughly about equally; a fair match for him, and certainly no reason for us to complain about his major decisions.
Man of the match: Karl Connolly (surprise)
Effective
Game 37 - Hull (2-1) by Peter Davies
Pre-match background: A heartening Cup victory, but extremely worrying League form.
Conditions: Fairly mild for early January; dry, rainless, windless.
Selection: Starlet Gibson gets a debut on the right-wing, Ward’s on the bench and Rush rested totally
Tactics: Owen and Brammer in the middle of the park, with Chalk on the left (deep) and Gibson on the right (in a more attacking role); Gibson looked bloody good early on – he posed genuine danger with his runs and crosses.
Ebb and flow: Wrexham dominated in the first half, but after two early second-half substitutions (take note Mr Flynn) the home side grasped the initiative and looked a bit better.
Atmospherics: Maybe 30-odd Wrexham fans in an astonishingly creditable 2,000+ crowd; but still not much atmosphere. Things got going a little after Hull got their goal.
Goals: Two Roberts scrambled close-range efforts and an extremely well-crafted, and almost classy, Hull response.
Incident: An injured linesman had to be replaced by the fourth official (what drama) and Brammer caused serious uproar when he took at least five hours to reach the touchline when he was taken off (he was injured, not upset); Russell rose to the challenge and took only three hours to amble off when his number went up close to the end.
Post-match verdict: Effective performance; decent win; after years of cock-ups are we at last going to do something in the AWS?
Man of the match: Carey (a giant) but if it had been awarded on first-half performance alone it would have been Gibson (excellent pace and variety on the right)
Despondent
Game 38 - Reading (0-4) by Peter Williams
Pre-match background: Consecutive defeats and no goals scored in our last three league matches, but hopefully two cup wins in the last week have restored some confidence.
Conditions: Cold but fine. A surprisingly vociferous away contingent given the circumstances.
Selection: Neil Roberts keeps his place up front after his brace at Hull with Rushie continuing in his new midfield role.
Tactics: I don’t remember the last time Wrexham were sufficiently in control of an away game to be able to impose their tactics on the proceedings at all. As at Preston, we were chasing the game from the off.
Ebb and flow: Reading were well on top up to and for some time after the first goal. Wrexham saw a reasonable amount of the ball later on in the first half, but the second goal on the stroke of half time killed us off. The second half was just embarrassing.
Goals: 7 minutes: Brebner goes down like a ton of bricks under a challenge by Cartwright. Ref points to the spot. Williams scores, 1-0; 44 minutes: Linesman decides two Reading forwards standing offside are not interfering with play and keeps his flag down. Williams crashes his shot against the bar. Brebner nets the rebound. 2-0; 53 minutes: Williams and Carey jostle for the ball. It looks as though Carey is fouled and the linesman flags in our favour, but when Williams goes down, the ref points to the spot again. Williams dusts himself off and scores again. 3-0; 82 minutes: Parkinson’s header is well saved by Cartwright but the Reading skipper follows up to slot in the rebound: 4-0.
Incident: Whatever question marks may hang over decisions leading up to the goals, it’s hard to have any qualms about the result. We created little more than half chances and precious few of those: Rush had his customary "near miss" early on and Roberts and Rooster, who replaced him in the second half, tried hard but it’s difficult to remember any other clear attempts at goal.
Atmospherics: One round of "Brian Flynn’s Barmy Army" lasted about fifteen minutes in the first half. The team doesn’t deserve support like this.
Post match verdict: It’s difficult to see where our next league point - or goal - is coming from after this performance. Players like Carey and Ward who were our most consistent players last season seem to have lost the plot. There are weaknesses throughout the team: the defence looked shell-shocked at times and too many of the passes in midfield were just hit-and-hope. Ward was particularly awful and Rush went missing for the second half.
Man of the match: Terry Cooke was the nearest we had to an attacking threat.
And because Reading was such a DISASTROUS result and performance, we sought another eye-witness account…
Game 38 - Reading (0-4) by Rod Jones, Red Passion, red-faced and angry…
Pre-match background: Two exciting victories in cup competitions in the week prior to this game gave your correspondent hope that our first three points on the road this season were only a simple 90 minutes of football away. Reading had lost at home to Chesterfield the previous week, and with this in mind, not even the press speculation that King Karl Connolly was on his way out of the Racecourse in a big money move to West Brom, or to our hosts in the Madejski Stadium, could dampen the spirits.
Conditions: The weather was bitterly cold, the sky was grey and the pitch seemed to be suffering from the Rugby that was also being played on it.
Selection: Cartwright, McGregor, Hardy, Carey & Spink in defence. Rush, Ward, and Brammer in midfield. Cooke as the winger supporting Connolly and N.Roberts up front. Russell, S.Roberts and Chalk on the Bench.
Tactics: The same formation as Chesterfield at home in the cup the previous Saturday was employed. Rush operating mainly at left midfield but with some licence to rove forward, especially if Connolly goes wide.
Atmospherics: The ground was cavernous for Division 2, but with only 8,087 in attendance out of a reported capacity of 25,000 the atmosphere was somewhat eerie. Any noise that the home fans were making was all coming from one side of the ground, the opposite side was filled with ‘suits’ who were too posh to sing, and only a light sprinkling of fans were in evidence behind the ‘other’ goal. Jacko was doing his level best to whip the Wrexham disciples into a frenzy, with a good degree of success; unfortunately this resulted in several ‘discussions’ with Reading’s over-zealous stewards, no matter though because this just ignited the passion of the surrounding fans! Some interesting chanting was heard from the home fans’ ‘Stand up if you hate the Welsh!’ which added some spice to the occasion.
Goals: A theatrical penalty scored by Williams for Reading, opened the scoring after seven minutes. An ‘oops what was that new interpretation of the off-side rule, and shouldn’t we be playing to the whistle anyway’ goal by Brebner then put Reading two goals ahead. A ‘What the fuck was that for!’ penalty on 53 minutes again converted by Williams then ended the game as a contest, sending the Royals into a three goal lead. Reading then completed the scoring with Parkinson prodding home after Cartwright failed to hold a low shot.
Incident: Where to begin? The penalty conceded by Cartwright after seven minutes was dubious, the Reading player was moving towards the by-line at pace, but he was going away from goal. Unfortunately Cartwright came off his line and dived at the feet of the advancing striker, there was some contact, but the grace of the dive would certainly be worthy of an Oscar! The second Reading goal was almost farce, the Wrexham defence pushed up and appealed because one of the Reading players was in an off-side position, the match officials deemed him to be on-side, but how a player that close to goal cannot be interfering with play I’ll never understand. What followed seemed to be in slow motion the ball was played out to the Reading left, a cross/shot came in which hit the bar, but Brebner was on hand to nod home the rebound. The second penalty was a complete mystery, some Wrexham fans were convinced that the assistant referee had given a decision in our favour, but the man in the middle gave Reading a penalty for a foul by Carey. There was another near-ish miss by Wrexham’s star ‘striker’ Ian Rush, but as usual it just whistled past the left hand upright.
Post-match verdict: As Nottingham Forest discovered a few years ago, no team is ‘too good to go down’. If this game represents what Wrexham FC has got to offer in terms of away performances for the rest of the season, then we’re going down to the Chester. We were only in the game in the period between the first two goals, we we’re over-run at the start and end of the game to such an extent that it was frightening. The Wrexham midfield with Rush, Brammer and Ward together lacked the energy to compete (any chance of getting Wilson back now Terry has Cooked off to City???).
Quote Unquote: To the well known recent Manic Street Preachers hit tune: ‘If we tolerate this, relegation will be next’…
Man of the Match: Brammer? Carey? No-one deserved it.
Crucial
Game 39 - Colchester (3-1) by Rod Jones
Pre-match background: After Reading and the dreadful defending there, there wasn’t a lot of confidence, but the loan signings of a midfielder and a striker, Whitley and Griffiths, was heartening. With the same line-up as at Reading I would have expected defeat.
Conditions: Blustery. As the old saying goes, you really do need another layer at Layer Road; the away fans were under cover and enclosed – if not boxed in – but it was still pretty nippy.
Selection: Only changes – Chalk for Cooke, Whitley for Rush in midfield and Griffiths for Roberts upfront.
Tactics: The usual – one winger (Chalk) and Carl up with Karl, as it were. Ward, Whitley and Brammer were the midfield trio and it was the usual back-four.
Ebb and flow: An amazingly hectic start with four goals in the first quarter of the match. Wrexham were on top after their two goals, but Colchester’s goal gave them heart and they started to dominate after that. At 2-1 up we were quite worried with a full 75 minutes to hold out…
Atmospherics: Good banter between the two sets of fans, with the Essex men showing hostility in turn to the Wrexham fans, the ref and then their own side. ‘3-1 to the Sheepshaggers’ rang out as the home fans gave nearly everyone a bit of jip.
Goals: Whitley bundled in a Brammer cross (1-0); Wardy’s free-kick gets a wicked deflection and leaves the exotically-named Colchester keeper stranded (2-0); the home side’s second corner is headed home easily – the Wrexham marking very poor (2-1); and Griffiths swivels very stylishly to hit home a cute angled shot (3-1)
Incident: Colchester had two open goals from which they should have scored; they should have had three goals overall – we should have had five. Quite an open game overall, with McGregor having a good fairly good game and Cartwright looking very unconvincing.
Post-match verdict: The double arrival of Whitley and Griffiths definitely gives me more confidence, and I think we’ll certainly pick up more points on the road.
Quote Unquote: ‘What a load of rubbish’ (Colchester fans)
Man of the match: Brammer, on account of his passing – pushed close by Whitley, if only for his workrate
