Wrexham v Mansfield Town Highlights

Wrexham
26 Anthony Williams
38 Sam Williamson
15 Mike Williams
29 Ashley Westwood
11 Neil Taylor
40 Jon Brown
19 Andy Fleming
36 Nathan Fairhurst
35 Nathan Woolfe
34 Patrick Suffo
21 Marc Williams

14 Tom Kearney
23 Sam Aiston
25 Christian Smith
33 Angelos Tsiaklis
41 Steve Abbott

Mansfield Town
35 Jmie Annerson
2 Gary Silk
3 James Kay
4 Jonathan D'Laryea
6 Alan O'Hare
7 Nathan Arnold
8 Matt Somner
18 Gavin Hurren
20 Alex Jeannin
21 Aaron O'Connor
28 Emile Sinclair

1 Paddy Gamble
11 Michael Blackwood
14 Adnan Ahmed
23 Lewis Trimmer
32 Ashley Kitchen

Referee: A Halliday (Yorks)

Wrexham 2-1 Mansfield

Wrexham won their first ever FA Trophy game as Dean Saunders' men struck early to beat fellow relegation victims Mansfield Town at the Racecourse.

Teenage striker Jon Brown, on loan from Cardiff City, opened the scoring as early as the third minute.

Defender Ashley Westwood added a second with an 11th minute header for Wrexham.

Marc Williams hit the woodwork for Wrexham before Adam O'Connor scored a 67th minute consolation for their Blue Square Premier rivals Mansfield.

Wrexham 2 Mansfield Town 1: Match report

Mansfield bowed out of the FA Trophy at the first hurdle despite a spirited second half fightback where they might have nicked a draw.

The Stags, under the temporary charge of senior players Mark Stallard and Adie Moses following Billy McEwan's departre, looked dead and buried when they were 2-0 after just 11 minutes..

But they rode their luck in the rest of the first half and then looked much more of a threat after the restart.

Aaron O'Connor pulled one goal back midway through the half but there was no equaliser as the hosts, so dominant early on, held firm.

The opener came inside three minutes in what was the first serious attack of the game by either side.

Marc Williams broke free on the left byline and pulled the ball back for Jon Brown, who had the simplest of tap-ins from close range.

In the 11th minute, a superb stop from Jamie Annerson saw him claw away a Marc Williams header that was heading for the left-hand corner

But it was 2-0 from the resulting flag kick as Nathan Woolfe's near post kick was headed goalwards by Ashley Westwood and seemed to go in off a Mansfield body on the line.

With Wrexham rampant, Woolfe's cross was only inches too far for two Red Dragons making late runs into the box.

Midway through the half, James Kay's excellent cross was missed by the head Aaron O'Connor at close quarters, but the striker was flagged offside anyway.

The hosts went close to 3-0 when the lively Marc Williams escaped down the right and crossed for Andy Fleming whose low finish was crucially blocked by Silk.

Mansfield had two good situations within the space of 30 seconds as first Nathan Arnold lost control of the ball when he could have gone clear before Jonathan D'Laryea's through ball was just inches too far for Sinclair.

But Wrexham were always dangerous and Brown thundered just centimetres wide of the right-hand post from the edge of the box.

Just before the break, Brown find space on the left and crossed low for Patrick Suffo whose attempted finish was well blocked by Alan O'Hare.

In the final minute, Silk found space to cross for D'Laryea who headed straight at Ward before O'Connor curled well off target.

At the start of the second period, Marc Williams caught a sight of goal but spooned his effort well wide.

The Stags won a free-kick that was cleared only as far as O'Connor, whose volley sped past the left-hand post.

Kay then thumped well wide from distance before Neil Taylor got in an important header to deny Alex Jeannin from Arnold's centre.

Wrexham's response saw Mike Williams bring a smart save out of Annerson from Brown's left-wing free-kick.

Just before the hour, Adnan Ahmed came on to replace Matt Somner in midfield.

Jeannin had acres of space to run into as Wrexham were caught on the break, only to fire high over the top from 25 yards.

In the 67th minute, Marc Williams' tenacity allowed him to tee up substitute Sam Aiston, whose drive was high and wide.

Mansfield gave themselves hope soon after when they pulled a goal back. Kay's deep cross was pulled back by Sinclair allowing O'Connor to side-foot home a simple finish from eight yards.

That seemed to inject some confidence into the Stags and only a last-ditch tackle from Westwood prevented substitute Michael Blackwood – on for Jeannin – for having a glorious chance to level.

Ward then made a fine diving stop to deny O'Connor after Hurren's accurate through pass had set him up..

But Wrexham almost wrapped the game up in their next foray forward as Marc Williams struck the right-hand post trying to bend the ball into the corner from the edge of the box.

Sinclair was left holding his head in his hands when he overran the ball after being sent clear by a slide-rule pass from Ahmed.

With the game now spread, the opportunities were coming thick and fast at both ends and Aiston's centre only just cleared a Wrexham head when a touch would almost certainly brought a goal.

A sharp turn by Sinclair saw him get away down the right but O'Connor could only turn his hard and low cross over the bar.

With time running out, Kay won the ball in an advanced position but dragged his 20-yard drive well wide.

At the other end, Brown struck the outside of the right-hand post from a tight angle after winning a foot race with Kay.

The referee added four minutes of stoppage time but Mansfield were unable to fashion a clear opening.

Mansfield: Annerson, Silk, O'Hare, Hurren, Kay, Arnold, D'Laryea, Somner, Jeannin, Sinclair, O'Connor. Subs: Gamble, Blackwood, Ahmed, Trimmer, Kitchen.

Wrexham: Ward, Taylor, Mike Williams, Westwood, Williamson, J. Brown, Fleming, Fairhurst, Woolfe, Marc Williams, Suffo. Subs: Kearney, Aiston, Smith, Tsiaklis, Abbott.

Referee: A. Halliday.

Wrexham 2-1 Mansfield

Wrexham won their first ever FA Trophy game as Dean Saunders' men struck early to beat fellow relegation victims Mansfield Town at the Racecourse.

Teenage striker Jon Brown, on loan from Cardiff City, opened the scoring as early as the third minute.

Defender Ashley Westwood added a second with an 11th minute header for Wrexham.

Marc Williams hit the woodwork for Wrexham before Adam O'Connor scored a 67th minute consolation for their Blue Square Premier rivals Mansfield.

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Wrexham manager Dean Saunders said:
"It was our game to lose in the end.

"They weren't peppering our goal but if the ball bounced their way, they might have equalised.

"I lost count of how many goals we could have scored. We were in situation where the ball has got to go in.

"And they seemed to gain confidence from our misses, they showed a bit of fight and scored a good goal.

"I wasn't happy with the second half and I'd like to teach them about how to win a football match."

Mansfield joint caretaker-manager Mark Stallard:
"I was pleased of the response to the lads because in the first 15 minutes we gave away two sloppy goals and didn't look at it.

"We dug deep, fought and played with a bit of freedom as we took the shackles off and expressed ourselves, especially in the second-half.

"We looked dangerous and with a bit more confidence and getting our injured players, there's a bit of brightness on the horizon."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wrexham/7781883.stm

Dean Saunders interview

Dean Saunders interview

Watch this, it`s brilliant

Wrexham v Southport Highlights

Highlights will be on here before 4pm today Wednesday 10th December 2008 of our match against Southport last night in The Setanta Shield.

In a much changed team from our last leaguematch Dean Saunders decides to give some of the reserve players a chance to impress but unfortunately this was not the case.

Wrexham dominated the opening 45 minutes and Marc Williams scored around 8 minutes before half time with a well taken goal, which he took round the keeper and slotted home but we should have been 3-4 goals to the good with the amount of possession we had. Steve Evans getting a rare run out as was Anthony Williams in goal but don`t bank on seeing these two again in a Wrexham shirt this season after a disastrous 2nd half and extra time performance.

Brown up front for us was a class apart from everyone else and he eased past players as if they weren`t there as I thought his performance was outstanding and he is in my opinion destined for a good future in the game.

The 2nd half kicks off and on the hour mark Steve Evans brought their lad down in the box and was shown a straight red and they equalised from the penalty. From this moment onwards Southport tore us apart and at times we couldn`t get anywhere near the ball and it was embarrasing to watch. It was like Brian Little was back in charge, then I realised that most of the players on show tonight were regulars under Little and it brought back bad memories as we were awful.Ten minutes before the end of 90 minutes a red card was shown to Williamson for a challenge which was not worthy of even a yellow card, never mind a red and the referee knew he had made a mistake when a few minutes later he sent off a Southport player for challenging for a ball and he obviously did this to amend for his red card a few minutes earlier as the both of them were never red cards in a million years. It was now 9 against 10 players and off into extra time we go on a freezing night at The Racecourse. A howler from Anthony Williams from a cross gifted Sotuhport their 2nd goal and didn`t the fans let him know. They were shouting for Gavin Ward and singing that Williams will never play for Wrexham again and he was very shaky after this and every backpass it was 50/50 whether he would make a mess of it. At one stage he gave an evil stare to sections of the crowd who were slagging him off and this did him no favours at all. Wrexham hit the bar in the 2nd half of injury time but they deserved exactly what they got and that was nothing.

Come back for highlights of the goals and the red cards.

Wrexham v Kettering.WMV

Wrexham v Kettering.WMV

Nat Stays On With Silkmen

BOTH clubs have agreed to extend the loan spell of Nat Brown with League 2 side Macclesfield Town for another month.

The tall centre half has played in seven games during his first four weeks at Moss Rose and weighed in with three goals in three games to help the Macc lads to a draw and two wins.

He has also played in two FA Cup victories away to Harlow and Port Vales, with them now facing Everton in the third round.

The ex-Lincoln City defender still lives in Sheffield and the daily commute to Macclesfield is only about half that of travelling to North Wales.

This comes only a few days after Darran Kempson agreed to a second month with Forest Green Rovers, while Simon Brown is just settling into his stay with Rushden & Diamonds.