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Match report |
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Wrexham 1 v 0 Swansea City | |
Swansea
Wrexham
Attendance
Jason Smith |
Video clips
Listers view - Gary Martin Swansea crashed to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at the Racecourse but it was the manner of the defeat that left their fans fuming. John Hollins named an unchanged starting XI for the 3rd consecutive match but Casey replaced Mutton on the bench from Tuesday's 16 man line-up. The match was played in perfect conditions with half the pitch bathed in glorious sunshine.
Swans attacked the away support end first half and the 500 travelling support were disappointed to see no goalmouth action their end. First chance fell to Wrexham after just 5 minutes but Roger was smartly out to save after what turned out to be a shot from an offside position. There wasn't much pattern to the game for the first 20 minutes or so with most of the action concentrated in the 20 yards either side of the halfway line. Both teams were finding it difficult to string more than 2 passes together before losing possession and it was from one of these incidents that Wrexham's goal came about. The Swansea midfield ceded possession unexpectedly and the aimless hoof through by Wrexham caught Smith off guard and off balance. Despite this, he did manage a clearing header of sorts but it lacked power and fell loose in midfield where the unmarked Chalk skilfully got it quickly under control and advanced on goal. His progress was partially halted by Smith who managed to get a foot in on his shot. Unfortunately this only served to deflect the ball goalwards where Killen nipped in and beat Freestone to the loose ball to put Wrexham ahead. The lethargic Swans never looked like recovering from this setback and the only minor excitement was when Roberts attempted to con the referee with a dive in the penalty area.
Wrexham, who had struggled at home this season (and it was easy to see why) couldn't believe their luck over Swansea's lethargy and lack of appetite for the game, almost doubled their lead when Coates remained stationary when one of their players over ran the ball. Instead of him trying to win the ball back, Edwards was allowed to recover from his mistake and fired in a 30 yard screamer which Freestone finger-tipped around his post. Despite there being several lengthy stoppages for treatment to Wrexham players, the over-fussy referee could only mange to find 2 minutes of stoppage time to add on. Half time Wrexham 1-0 Swansea City When the team came out for the 2nd half, Thomas appeared in Coates's place. Whether physio Richie Evans discovered a mystery knock that Coatesie has been carrying for the past twelve months, or if the adult equivalent of the NSPCC had served JH with a writ, was a matter of conjecture amongst the fans. But the half time view was that he had been absolutely dreadful in the first 45 minutes. The team did look better balanced due to this change and Swansea began to get a bit more possession. Within 10 minutes of the restart, Watkin's neat turn in the box forced a corner. Howard who has taken over the duties of corner taker, whipped in some excellent balls and his first was hastily cleared for a second. This one almost produced a goal when Bound's downward header looked as if it was scooped out of the net and away to safety. With half an hour to go, Cusack was brought on for Savarese. This immediately prompted chants from a sizeable section of the away support aimed at Hollins. "You don't know what you're doing" and "You must be sh***ing Cusack."
From what I'd seen of the first hour, the change was justified but it may have made more sense to leave the striker on and use Cusack in a forward midfield role as we were chasing a goal. A spate of Swansea bookings ensued with Roberts first into the book for a trip in midfield. Minutes later Price and Watkin combined well but Price took the losing option of a cross instead of going for goal himself. Thomas looking to make the most of his 45 minutes won the ball back with a tenacious piece of tackling in midfield and his accurate pass sent Roberts away down the right. His progress was only stopped at the expense of another corner. Despite the excellent service from Howard from these corners, Swansea failed to turn them into goals. Next it was Cusack who almost unlocked the Wrexham defence with a neat through ball for Price to chase onto but the keeper just beat him to it.
With 25 minutes gone, Howard was next in the book for a cynical trip to halt a Wrexham breakout. Swansea's best chance came with 15 minutes to go. Lee Jenkins completely outwitted his two markers on the edge of the box and broke free on goal. His side-footed pass to Casey (who had come on minutes earlier for Roberts) left the winger with an open goal at his mercy - only for him to blast wide. With 5 minutes remaining and Swansea looking more and more unlikely to gain an equaliser, Smith was the 3rd Swans player to enter the ref's book for a cynical challenge. Worse was to come. An innocuous tangle between Howard and their No 9 led to handbags at 2 paces and Howard sent off for a 2nd yellow card for his part in it. Price joined the yellow carded to round off a thoroughly miserable day for the Swans and their fans.
Summary: A dreadful performance from the Swans lacking commitment and showing very little passion. Club captain Nick Cusack has publicly apologised to the fans for the team's below par performances twice so far this season and I expect him to do similar again this week. However, I am sure the fans do not want to hear this every three weeks or so. What we are looking for is some pride and a minimum level of effort that no one should fall below. Wrexham looked an extremely ordinary side and we really should be creating more than one chance against teams like this. Some interesting after match comments from the Swans fans but I'll just share this one gem with you which was delivered absolutely deadpan (no pun intended) in the Gents. "Why does Hollins bother to go and get that Uruguayan over and then always substitute him?" There was some sound logic in that statement even though it had me still smiling an hour afterwards. Listers view - Clive Hughes For various reasons this was our first game since the away win at Notts County. We had not seen our two new players but from reports traveled in hope of a good performance and returning with at least a share of the spoils.
It was a new look Racecourse with the new stand looking impressive from the outside, but less so from inside holding at best 1,500. To be fair it is now a neat ground for the lower divisions. We had a following of about 500. The first half was played mostly in our half with Wrexham being quicker to the ball and having players spare in space, whereas we were lethargic and were rushing everything. Although as said it was all Wrexham, there was no real threat apart from one good save from Roger, and of course the goal which came as a result of a flat footed square defence. Half-time came with the scoreline 1-0, with some of the players looking as if they were still on the journey north. For the restart Thomas replaced Coates who again seemed totally short of confidence. After a further 10mins Cusack replaced Savarese, who had found some space with his runs, but had not been found by his teammates. This change was greeted with a halfhearted chant aimed at John Hollins of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’. For a few precious minutes we upped the tempo with Thomas battling in midfield, but this was short lived. Apart from a few glimpses of skill from Romo, the second half was as unforgettable as the first. The only chance of getting anything from the game came when we were up from our seats ready to shout goal as Casey? coming in from the left had an empty goal to aim at as the ball came to him on the corner of the six yard box managed to miss completely. The referee had been very whistle happy and very fussy booking 5 players?. Howard getting a second yellow and being dismissed for reacting to a kick from one of their players while he (Howard) was standing over him after a tackle. Better refereeing could have stopped the situation from boiling over.
Apart from the usual Freestone Bound & Smith and others in very short bursts, this was a totally inept performance ranking alongside some of the worst of last season. We chose the wrong option on nearly every occasion and some of the play did not reach Sunday League level. Many throw-ins went to the opposition or at least put the receiver under pressure. We waited for passes to arrive instead of meeting them, and lost out as defenders just stepped in front of the waiting players. This was a display of no passion, the bookings resulting from frustration and lack of self control. We hope others may have seen this game differently as that all we think is 200 mile round trip and 60 pounds wasted. Listers view - Peter & Bethan Charles As someone said to us today, very poignantly, "this ground looks better on Soccer Sunday doesn't it?". Very true, as we noted looking at the breezeblock semi-splendour of the "new" racecourse, perhaps too do both teams! On a day which promised a convincing away win, justifying the four hour drive through every traffic jam the M6 has to offer, we were left to contemplate a day of "might have beens" and "should we blame the ref". Perhaps the consequence of over-confidence at a higher level. It was for us a new and crusading Swan line-up, with our first look at the new continental Swans contingent of Saverase (do you pronounce that last "e"?) and Dai Romo; rather like seeing the Mona Lisa really! But the game started brightly enough, with a fifteen minute burst of enterprising football from both teams, with our continental cousins seeking balls to feet at every opportunity and Wrexham seemingly fed on raw red steak to prime them for this battle. Despite the enterprising style, the opening exchanges offered little by way of scoring opportunities. The first serious chance appeared to fall to Wrexnam after 5 minutes when Freestone foiled a low shot, but the off side flag rendered his efforts pointless. And despite the endeavours of both teams, little happened in front of goal for the opening 20 minutes, until a terific run and cross from the ever-willing Roberts led to a low and wide effort from Coates. Territorially, the game was very even in the first half, but it became obvious, that as the game wore on, the midfield battle was increasingly being conceded to Wrexham, who were clearly battling for their crediblity as a home team (and probably as a Welsh team!) Consequently Romo seemed somewhat bemused by the physicality of the midfield battle and at many stages seemed totally lost in the melee. Savarese, for the first 10 minutes, had seemed up for the fight but he too seemed to give up the ghost when he realised that winning the ball in the air was a requisite of winning a Welsh derby. No mistake, there was some promise from these two, but a steep learning curve too. An even, if scrappy, first half took a turn for the worse when the home side took the lead with a rare theatening attack, a deflected speculative shot looping into the path of the on-rushing Chris Killen, who finished off Roger with a close range tap-in. Thereafter, the half disintegrated into a classic lower division battle, with the only serious attempt on goal being a long shot from Wrexham, well saved from Freestone.
The second half began in similar vein, with Thomas replacing Coates in order to stiffen the yielding midfield (Jenkins pushing to the left). We were sprightly in the opening but not threatening. However, the pattern of the second half was set when we secured the first of a serious of corners, from which Matthew Bound headed home a fierce header, which may or may not have crossed the line before being parried by the ample Kevin Dearden; no doubt Soccer Sunday's virtual action replay will carry the answer...please let us know - we only get Anglia Action! The game then became of a war of attrition, with the home side content to sit on its lead and get everyone behind the ball. We had plenty of possession but the creative edge was missing, despite some impressive touches from Romo who finally seemed to be adjusting to the pace of the game. But chances were few until an impressive cross from Price seemed to set us up for a scoring chance but just evaded the on-running Cusack (who had replaced Savarese) The home side responded with a good run but weak shot from 'the son of the Scottish one.' The Swans continued to press but without ever looking in command. With 13 minutes left our best chance was created from the right when Lee Jenkins (playing in his third position of the day) brilliantly cut in between two defenders and struck a low cross which found Casey (on for Roberts) unmarked and with an open goal, which he contrived to miss with a low sidefoot shot. The Swans heads noticeably went down after that, and despite planty of aggression from Watkin and Cusack, no futher clear cut chances were created. A couple of things lingered in the memory. Firstly, the game was punctuated by some very inept refereeing from Mr Furnandez. Against the trend of greater leniency before showing the yellow card, Mr F decided to brandish it at every white shirt in range...the guy next to us in crowd got booked three times. The booking of Smith, for what was clear to all concerned an innocently mis-timed clearance, was a disgrace; the dismissal of Howard, who was physically attacked by Falconbridge, was a farce. Please Mr F - give it up! Another point was the reaction of some of the Swans contingent. Again, for them, the season had become a one match sprint, abusing John Hollins and the team for the performance and accusing JH of incompetence as he juggled his options in order to try to salvage a point. The abuse given to the team during the game was unjustified; the booing at the end was a disgrace, and worryingly, the team and management trooped off without acknowledging the fans. If we want to drive out the team and management that has taken us from 90th in the league to mid table in the second, then we are going the right way about it. However, the glee in the voices of some of the negative "told you so's" was hard to stomach. This was a game that got away, not one that was thrown away. To those who might disagree, ask yourself one question: do you want to be mid table in D2 under a management team that has won us a championship, or do you want to be mid table in the third, under the charge of the clueless slap-head one. Think on.
Player ratings:
In short, a diappointment against a fairly poor Wrexham team who battled and defended well, but football goes like that sometimes and we should remember that this is about 46 games and not 90 minutes. The squad is stronger than it was 18 months ago, and more than a division higher in the league. Lets stay behind them and push them as far as they can go. |
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