Matty D
15th August 2004, 15:05
A low-key game that probably should have finished a draw, but nice to snatch a late winner for once. We started well and dominated the first half territorially, without creating any gilt-edged chances. Nelson had to come off his line smartly to claim the ball at Llewellyn’s feet, but at the other end we were mostly restricted to long-range shots and pressure from corners.
Second half we seemed to lose our way a bit and lost the patience we’d shown in the first half, with the ball being pumped long earlier, and for all Burton’s good work in winning a lot of flick ons you could never really see a goal coming from them. Tabb and Salako offered us some creativity, but weren’t used enough, and tended to get stranded on the same wing, leaving us vulnerable on the break. The central midfield still looks slow and we tend to sit back and let the opposition come onto us rather than dictating the game.
Jay Tabb managed to squeeze one shot through the massed Wrexham defence early in the second half, which didn’t miss by much, but after that they seemed to get bodies in the way whenever he had the ball in shooting positions. We gained a bit of momentum when Rhodes and O’Connor came of the bench for the tiring Salako and Hargreaves - Rhodes covered loads of ground up and down the left wing, even if sometimes he seemed to lack the extra yard to beat his man.
Hector Sam missed the game’s best chance, firing wide when clean through on Nelson with 20 mins left. Jay Smith came on for Talbot, and did a pretty useful job in the centre of midfield. Finally, with five minutes left Rhodes got a cross in, slightly behind Rankin, who could only twist and head it back out to the edge of the box where O’Connor dispatched it back into the top corner with Dibble rooted to the spot.
Once aging we hung on, with just a slight scare in injury time as the gigantic Lawrence got his head to a Wrexham corner, which Jay Tabb had to head off the line. The optimistic view is that we kept a clean sheet and grabbed the three points even though we didn’t play as well as I think we can – I think we can raise our game more in comparison with Saturday than Wrexham can. It’s mostly a question of confidence and familiarity – getting the ball down and passing it, and cutting out the communication errors at the back.
Nelson 6 – not a great deal to do, still needs to work on communication with defence
Dobbo 5 – a bit shaky, wasted possession too often
Frampton 7 – good solid performance
Turner 6 – some good tackles, but still settling in
Fitzgerald 7 – calm, assured performance
Talbot 7 – retained the ball better than on Tuesday, but struggles to cope with pacy opponents
Hargreaves 6 – too much of the midfield action happened around him
Salako 7 – used the ball well, but both wingers seem to want a ‘free’ role rather than holding a flank
Tabb 7 – still our main creative outlet, but tired, and unable to make much impression when switched to the centre
Burton 8 – intelligent touches, good presence, unselfish work for 90 minutes, my MOTM
Rankin 7 – looked sharp and made good runs
O’Connor 7 – tidy, sensible, took goal well
Rhodes 7 – looks hungry and fearless, couldn’t win straight race against pacy wing-back though
Second half we seemed to lose our way a bit and lost the patience we’d shown in the first half, with the ball being pumped long earlier, and for all Burton’s good work in winning a lot of flick ons you could never really see a goal coming from them. Tabb and Salako offered us some creativity, but weren’t used enough, and tended to get stranded on the same wing, leaving us vulnerable on the break. The central midfield still looks slow and we tend to sit back and let the opposition come onto us rather than dictating the game.
Jay Tabb managed to squeeze one shot through the massed Wrexham defence early in the second half, which didn’t miss by much, but after that they seemed to get bodies in the way whenever he had the ball in shooting positions. We gained a bit of momentum when Rhodes and O’Connor came of the bench for the tiring Salako and Hargreaves - Rhodes covered loads of ground up and down the left wing, even if sometimes he seemed to lack the extra yard to beat his man.
Hector Sam missed the game’s best chance, firing wide when clean through on Nelson with 20 mins left. Jay Smith came on for Talbot, and did a pretty useful job in the centre of midfield. Finally, with five minutes left Rhodes got a cross in, slightly behind Rankin, who could only twist and head it back out to the edge of the box where O’Connor dispatched it back into the top corner with Dibble rooted to the spot.
Once aging we hung on, with just a slight scare in injury time as the gigantic Lawrence got his head to a Wrexham corner, which Jay Tabb had to head off the line. The optimistic view is that we kept a clean sheet and grabbed the three points even though we didn’t play as well as I think we can – I think we can raise our game more in comparison with Saturday than Wrexham can. It’s mostly a question of confidence and familiarity – getting the ball down and passing it, and cutting out the communication errors at the back.
Nelson 6 – not a great deal to do, still needs to work on communication with defence
Dobbo 5 – a bit shaky, wasted possession too often
Frampton 7 – good solid performance
Turner 6 – some good tackles, but still settling in
Fitzgerald 7 – calm, assured performance
Talbot 7 – retained the ball better than on Tuesday, but struggles to cope with pacy opponents
Hargreaves 6 – too much of the midfield action happened around him
Salako 7 – used the ball well, but both wingers seem to want a ‘free’ role rather than holding a flank
Tabb 7 – still our main creative outlet, but tired, and unable to make much impression when switched to the centre
Burton 8 – intelligent touches, good presence, unselfish work for 90 minutes, my MOTM
Rankin 7 – looked sharp and made good runs
O’Connor 7 – tidy, sensible, took goal well
Rhodes 7 – looks hungry and fearless, couldn’t win straight race against pacy wing-back though