Bury 0

 

Wrexham 1

Eifion Williams 31'

Tuesday 04 December 2007

 

Kick Off @ 19:45

Wrexham
Starting XI:
01 Anthony Williams
05 Steve Evans
04 Shaun Pejic
06 Richard Hope
31 Wes Baines
26 Robbie Garrett
09 Neil Roberts
11 Chris Llewellyn
03 Ryan Valentine
10 Michael Proctor 79'
14 Eifion Williams 33'
Substitutes:
02 Simon Spender
13 Michael Jones (Gk)
17 Josh Johnson 79'
21 Marc Williams 33'
24 Gareth Evans
Stats:
10 Shots on Goal
7 Shots on Target
3 Shots off Target
53% Possession
9 Fouls Conceded
6 Corners
2 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Bury
Starting XI:
01 Jim Provett
06 Paul Morgan
07 Steven Haslam 61'
04 Ben Futcher
14 Andy Parrish 86'
02 Paul Scott
12 David Buchanan
03 Colin Woodthorpe 74'
16 Nicky Adams
10 Andy Bishop
25 Lee Bullock
Substitutes:
08 Richie Baker
09 Glynn Hurst 86'
11 Brian Barry-Murphy
19 Andrew Mangan 74'
28 Liam Hughes 61'
Stats:
9 Shots on Goal
4 Shots on Target
5 Shots off Target
47% Possession
8 Fouls Conceded
4 Corners
0 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Match Notes
Venue: Gigg Lane
Attendance: 2,248
Half Time: Bury 0 Wrexham 1
Referee: Scott Mathieson

Match Incidents
31' Eifion Williams (Wrexham)
52' Marc Williams (Wrexham)
82' Robbie Garrett (Wrexham)

Match Reports

WSA: Final Whistle Podcast

BBC: Bury 0-1 Wrexham

Bury FC: Bury 0-1 Wrexham

TEAMtalk: Williams' strike slays Shakers

Wrexham FC: Bury 0 Wrexham 1 (Ft)

Wrexham MAD: Bury 0 Wrexham 1

League Two Results
Tuesday:
Brentford 0 Morecambe 1
Bury 0 Wrexham 1
Chester 3 Barnet 0
Dag & Red 0 MK Dons 1
Grimsby 0 Darlington 4
Notts County 0 Peterborough 1
Stockport 1 Lincoln City 3
Wycombe 2 Hereford 2
Wednesday:
Accrington Stanley v Rochdale
Chesterfield v Rotherham
Mansfield v Bradford

League Two Table
    PLD GD PTS
1 MK Dons 18 18 38
2 Darlington 18 20 36
3 Peterborough 18 15 34
4 Hereford 18 14 33
5 Rotherham 17 9 33
6 Chester 18 10 32
7 Chesterfield 16 13 30
8 Wycombe 18 4 27
9 Morecambe 18 1 27
10 Shrewsbury 18 -1 25
11 Barnet 18 -3 24
12 Bury 18 1 23
13 Accrington Stanley 17 -3 23
14 Rochdale 16 -1 22
15 Macclesfield 18 -6 21
16 Stockport 18 -8 20
17 Bradford 17 -4 19
18 Brentford 18 -14 19
19 Notts County 18 -8 18
20 Wrexham 17 -11 15
21 Lincoln City 18 -12 15
22 Grimsby 18 -13 14
23 Dag & Red 18 -17 14
24 Mansfield 16 -4 12

Next Five Games

Sat 08 Dec: Dagenham (a) 15:00

Sat 15 Dec: Brentford (h) 15:00

Sat 22 Dec: Rotherham (a) 15:00

Wed 26 Dec: Rochdale (h) 15:00

Sat 29 Dec: Stockport (h) 15:00

Match Report
Brian Little celebrated his first win as Wrexham manager with a first half goal from Eifion Williams separating the two teams at the final whistle.

The goal came in comical fashion when the bounce from a huge Robbie Garrett clearance caught out Jim Provett in the Bury goal and Williams rounded the embarrassed shot stopper before heading into the unguarded net just after the half hour mark.

The joy for Williams, who was celebrating his first goal for the club, was short lived as he limped off with a hamstring injury but his strike did mean we climbed out of the relegation zone and into 20th place.

Wrexham were the better team by this point but apart from a ten minute second half spell, Bury never looked that threatening and luck was firmly on our side when chances did come the home side’s way.

Brian Little made three changes from the side that drew at Rochdale on the weekend with Ryan Valentine replacing the injured Neil Taylor, Robbie Garrett taking the place of Sam Aiston and Eifion Williams was back in the starting line up for Matty Done.

The additional striker added more cutting edge from the weekend and Wrexham signalled their attacking intent as early as the first minute when Neil Roberts supplied a good ball down the right channel and Michael Proctor’s cross was cut out by the back tracking Bury defence.

Other chances came Wrexham’s way with Chris Llewellyn hitting wide and Neil Roberts having a shot blocked after the Bury defence could only partially clear a Wrexham set play.

Bury only threatened at the other end from set plays themselves with first a free kick and then the resulting corner were well defended by the Wrexham rearguard.

Wrexham again continued to threaten and forced another corner down the left that was taken too quickly for the Bury defence.

The ball ended back at the feet of Wes Baines and his low cross was dummied by Neil Roberts only for the home defence to clear at the expense of another corner, which was again well worked by Wrexham but Baines was this time off target with the final shot.

Bury then tested Anthony Williams for the first time when they broke down the right and Paul Scott could only plant his header from Adams’ centre straight at the Wrexham keeper when a yard either side would have resulted in the opening goal.

But that came in the 31st minute when keeper Provett took a leaf out of the Wrexham school of defending, prior to Little's arrival, by completely misjudging the bounce from Garrett's long clearance and Eifion Williams was left with the simple task to net the game’s first goal.

Unfortunately for Williams, he did not have the opportunity to celebrate his first goal for the club as he limped off to be replaced by Marc Williams as the game restarted.

Wrexham were not under the cosh for the remainder of the first half with the only scare coming when Valentine had to dive in to clear a left wing cross but the Wrexham goal escaped intact.

Both sides opted for no changes during the half time break and it was Wrexham who started on the attack with Michael Proctor firing in a long range shot that was gathered well by Provett in the Bury goal.

Bury sacrificed one of their defenders on the hour mark when striker Liam Hughes replaced Steve Haslam and this change tipped the balance of the game in the Shakers’ favour.

In quick succession, Baines looked uncomfortable when he defended a deep cross from the right underneath his bar but Wrexham managed to escape with a goal kick, and there was further concern in the Wrexham area when Williams failed to collect the ball and Steve Evans was forced to play the ball behind.

The resulting corner was swung to Ben Futcher at the far post and the home fans were up celebrating what they thought was the equaliser until they realised that the ball had struck the side netting.

Wrexham then had a lucky escape when three defenders ended up on the ground as the ball was played into the edge of the area but the ball trickled harmlessly through to a relieved Anthony Williams.

At this point, Wrexham were in the need of a second goal to give us that comfort zone and a flowing move down the left created the space for Baines down the right and his cross picked out Marc Williams in the centre but he could only steer his free header into the arms of a grateful Provett.

Bury introduced two further strikers when Andy Mangan and Glynn Hurst, who has always had a knack of scoring against us, came on as late substitutes but Wrexham had weathered the initial storm.

Josh Johnson was introduced for the final ten minutes for Michael Proctor and the winger turned striker did provide some comical moments as he failed miserably to run down the clock.

There was one final scare in the last minute of injury time when Anthony Williams misjudged a cross and Hurst headed onto the roof of the net but the final act was when Johnson ran through and fired straight at Provett and Wrexham held on for a valuable three points.

Match Reaction
Brian Little: "To come here and get this result is great for us, especially after two hard fought draws. In the end they had to be direct and throw big fellas in there to try and win the game - and credit to them for trying. But overall I thought we limited their chances. There were a few little crumbles around the box, but we showed we wanted to defend. Then as the game opened out towards the end I thought we might have sneaked another one." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]