Brentford 2

Ricky Shakes 31' 81'

Wrexham 0

 

Saturday 22 March 2008

 

Kick Off @ 15:00

Wrexham
Starting XI:
12 Gavin Ward
02 Simon Spender
28 Phil Bolland
24 Gavin Evans
15 Mike Williams
29 Sam Aiston
34 Danny Sonner 66'
09 Neil Roberts 66'
11 Chris Llewellyn
39 Drewe Broughton
10 Michael Proctor
Substitutes:
01 Anthony Williams (GK)
06 Richard Hope
20 Matty Done 66'
33 Paul Hall 66'
37 Jeff Whitley
Stats:
6 Shots on Goal
3 Shots on Target
3 Shots off Target
47% Possession
11 Fouls Conceded
4 Corners
0 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Brentford
Starting XI:
01 Simon Brown
02 Kevin O'Connor
05 Alan Bennett
07 Gary Smith 27'
08 Craig Pead
10 Alan Connell
11 Glenn Poole
14 Nathan Elder
19 Ryan Dickson
22 Karleigh Osborne
29 Ricky Shakes
Substitutes:
06 Osei Sankofa
12 John Mousinho 27'
17 Reuben Reid
21 Wayne Brown
27 Ben hamer (GK)
Stats:
10 Shots on Goal
6 Shots on Target
4 Shots off Target
53% Possession
13 Fouls Conceded
3 Corners
0 Yellow Cards
0 Red Cards

Match Notes
Venue: Griffin Park
Attendance: 4,448
Half Time: Brentford 1 Wrexham 0
Referee: Grant Hegley

Match Incidents
31' Ricky Shakes (Brentford)
81' Ricky Shakes (Brentford)

Match Reports

BBC: Brentford 2-0 Wrexham

Brentford FC: Brentford 2 Wrexham 0

Daily Post: Brentford 2 Wrexham 0

TEAMtalk: Shakes brace sinks drab Dragons

Wales on Sunday: The battle is on for toothless Dragons

Western Mail: Little fuming as his side fail to close the gap

Wrexham FC: Brentford 2 Wrexham 0

Wrexham MAD: Brentford 2 Wrexham 0

League Two Results
MK Dons 1 Peterborough 1 (Friday)
Stockport 2 Macclesfield 0 (Friday)
Barnet 5 Lincoln City 2
Brentford 2 Wrexham 0
Chester 2 Darlington 1
Chesterfield 4 Accrington 2
Dag & Red 1 Shrewsbury 1
Hereford 0 Bury 0
Mansfield 1 Grimsby 2
Morecambe 0 Wycombe 1
Notts County 1 Rochdale 0
Rotherham 1 Bradford 1

League Two Table
    PLD GD PTS
1 MK Dons 38 38 79
2 Peterborough 39 35 79
3 Hereford 38 25 74
4 Darlington 38 30 72
5 Stockport 38 16 68
6 Wycombe 39 12 66
7 Chesterfield 39 16 60
8 Rochdale 36 9 56
9 Grimsby 39 0 55
10 Morecambe 38 -5 53
11 Rotherham 39 8 52
12 Brentford 39 -12 52
13 Bradford 37 0 48
14 Lincoln City 39 -14 46
15 Barnet 36 -7 45
16 Accrington 39 -30 45
17 Shrewsbury 38 -6 43
18 Bury 39 -7 43
19 Chester 39 -14 43
20 Dag & Red 39 -19 41
21 Notts County 38 -14 39
22 Macclesfield 39 -21 38
23 Mansfield 37 -17 33
24 Wrexham 36 -23 32

Next Five Games

Mon 24 Mar: Dag & Redbridge (h) 15:00

Sat 29 Mar: Barnet (a) 15:00

Tue 01 Apr: Mansfield (a) 19:45

Sat 05 Apr: Macclesfield (h) 15:00

Tue 08 Apr: MK Dons (a) 19:45

Match Report
A goal in either half from Ricky Shakes condemned Wrexham to defeat at Griffin Park with the Brentford winger scoring his first goals since the beginning of September.

It was an abject performance from Wrexham with the home side dealing better with the inclement weather with hail, snow and rain, along with the strong wind, all hitting west London at some point in the afternoon.

The game lacked any quality throughout and the goals from Shakes were a result of poor defending, rather than individual skill, as it was a comfortable three points for a Bees side that had lost six of their last seven games.

Brentford opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark when Shakes reacted quickest to head in at the back post after Gavin Ward had saved the initial shot from Alan Connell, and his second of the afternoon with nine minutes from time ended the game as a contest when he was left in space inside of the area to slot past the exposed Ward.

Wrexham really failed to get going with starting midfield of Sam Aiston, Danny Sonner, Neil Roberts and Chris Llewellyn offering nothing in defence and attack as the game passed them by.

The return of Sonner and Roberts were two of three changes to the Wrexham side with Paul Hall and the injured Neil Taylor making way. Sam Aiston played out on the right and Chris Llewellyn was moved out to the left with Mike Williams the other change at left back with Carl Tremarco also ruled out from injury.

The opening fifteen minutes of the game just simply passed by and gave nothing to warm up the spectators of both sides on a bitterly cold afternoon in what was a game contested by two poor sides.

There were speculative efforts from Brentford but Ward remained untested as Graham Poole and Shakes were both off target from outside of the area.

Brentford also lost the services of Gary Smith just before the half mark to be replaced by John Moushino and Wrexham had our most noticeable effort on goal so far soon after when Michael Proctor was off target in front of the near 500 travelling support.

This optimism was short lived as Brentford opened the scoring a minute later when we were punished for conceding possession from our own throw.

Brentford worked the ball well down their left flank and Connell looked certain to score but Ward saved his shot, only for the ball to loop into the air and Shakes reacted quicker than Williams and Llewellyn to head in at the far post.

Wrexham did respond positively after going a goal down and were denied by the width of the post when Simon Spender’s free kick was caught by the strong wind and the ball rebounded back of the upright with Simon Brown stranded in the centre of his goal.

The ball bounced back into play and with the Brentford defence failing to clear, Wrexham had three attempts to score but Drewe Broughton, Phil Bolland and Gareth Evans were all left frustrated as Brown finally claimed the ball.

Wrexham continued to use the wind to their advantage and almost equalised when Bolland beat Brown to a free kick but his header looped onto the roof of the net with five minutes of the half remaining.

Wrexham continued to press at the start of the second half with Craig Pead almost diverting a Spender cross into his own net but Brown pulled off a smart save on his line.

Wrexham had the wind against them in the second half and at one point were defending in blizzard conditions as the snow came down for a five minute spell.

Chances were now at a premium at either end with Broughton putting a header straight at Brown and Elder was off target with a header at the other end after goal scorer Shakes supplied a cross from the right.

Brentford slowly started to regain control of the game and Wrexham made a double substitution midway through the second half with both central midfielders – Sonner and Roberts – being replaced by Paul Hall And Matty Done.

Both substitutes played out wide in the same 4-4-2 formation and Chris Llewellyn and Sam Aiston moved in from their flanks to form a new partnership in central midfield.

Wrexham’s best chance to equalise came with fifteen minutes left when Brown spilled a simple cross but redeemed himself as he parried away the shot from Proctor who had reacted quickest to the loose ball.

The game was up for Wrexham six minutes later when Shakes doubled his and Brentford’s tally for the afternoon after the Wrexham defence failed to deal with a long throw from the left.

The ball came across Wrexham’s penalty area and Connell out muscled Williams in the centre to leave Shakes in space at the far post and he fired low past Ward to secure the three points for the home side.

Match Reaction
Brian Little: "You have good days and bad days in this business and this was a poor day for us. In the conditions I didn't think either side played particularly well and we gave two very sloppy goals. We had three or four half chances that didn't go in, but it was a day when nothing happened for us really. I'm disappointed with that, because we play differently away from home recently, we've used three centre backs and have been strong. It's a bit crazy really, because I was saying to the lads, that our tendency to give nothing away has seen us win one or two games and looked better." [Source: Wrexham FC - click here for more]