Wrexham 1 Kettering Town 2 Saturday August 22nd 2009

What the hell is Dean Saunders thinking about? He has got out right back playing right wing and our right winger playing right back, he has got Mark Jones playing on the left wing when everyone knows his best position is in the middle of the park.

Wolfenden went off injured and as he was walking pitchside with Mel Pejic the racecourse rose as one to acclaim Mel who has been a fantastic servant to the club. Marc Williams came on for Wolfenden and did absolutely nothing all afternoon. I have Never rated him and never will.

We were awful all the first half and deserved to go in at half time 1-0 down because all we were doing was hitting the ball long up to Gareth Taylor who in fact only managed to win one header all bloody afternoon.

A very sloppy goal to give away and it was almost like slow motion when before the ball crossed the line.

The second half kicks off with Obeng and Spann now playing in their proper positions but it`s not long before we are 2-0 down with their winger skinning Williamson for pace and crossing the ball into the box and their player just hitting it goalwards, even though Russell got a hand to it,he couldn`t manage to keep it out.

In the 56th minute Wrexham pulled a goal back through Mani and it was now game on.

66th minute and Spann is replaced by Adrian Cieslewicz who causes problems every time he comes on and that`s why I can`t understand why he does not play from the start because he is better than most of our other players and fully deserves a starting place.

The game is starting to turn ugly and there is a confrontation with one of the Kettering players and Wrexham fans in the paddock which went on for 2-3 minutes before the police had to intervene. The referee had now lost all control of the match with every decision going in favour of Kettering no matter what Wrexham did, the referee was going to give absolutely nothing to Wrexham.

Sam Russell came for a through ball before being hit really hard by one of their players just inside the 18 yard box and fell really bad and he had to be stretchered off and it doesn`t look good for him for the rest of the season. Wrexham had already used three subs so Taboubi went in goal and we played the rest of the match with ten men and to add insult to injury we then had not one but two goals ruled out for offside in the 7 minutes of injury time that was played.

Then to top off a forgettable afternoon some bloody clown went and awarded Christian Smith the man of the match award when it clearly should have gone to Taboubi who was excellent in and out of goal.

Wrexham (4-4-2): Sam Russell, Silvio Spann (Adrian Cieslewicz 65) , Mani,Mike Williams, Sam Williamson, Curtis Obeng, Hedi Taboubi, Christian Smith (Wes Baynes 77), Mark Jones , Gareth Taylor, Matty Wolfenden (Marc Williams 20)

Subs: Chris Maxwell, Ashley Westwood

Kettering Town (4-4-2): Lee Harper, Nicky Eaden (61 John Dempster 61), Ian Roper, Exodus Geoghagan, James Jennings, Danny Thomas, Lee Fowler, Patrick Noubissie (Darren Wrack 86), Andre Boucaud, Francis Green, Damian Spencer (Jean - Paul Marna 77)

Subs: James McPike, Gareth Seddon

Referee: J.Simpson,

Attendance: 3,473

Away: 93

Bookings:

Wrexham: Christian Smith (foul), Curtis Obeng (foul)

Kettering: Andre Boucaud (foul), Nicky Eaden (foul)

Wrexham v Kettering Venue: The Racecourse Ground Date: Saturday, 22 August 2009 Kick-off:1500 BST

Blue Square Premier

Venue: The Racecourse Ground Date: Saturday, 22 August 2009 Kick-off:1500 BST

Wrexham v Kettering

Live Text

Non League commentaries

Skipper’s back for Dragons

Wrexham FC looking for second win of season against Kettering TownEvening Leader - Sport 12:25

Wrexham FC must give it their all against Kettering Town Evening Leader

Wrexham v Kettering BBC Sport - Wrexham

KTFC::Kettering Town Football Club - The Poppies Official Site

poppiesfans.com

Old Kettering Town football shirts (soccer jerseys)

Kettering Town

A proper football ground whose traditional looking floodlights can be seen for miles around. MORE >>

Mel Pejic to bring curtain down on Wrexham FC career

MEL PEJIC will bring down the curtain on a 17-year association with Wrexham FC after the game against Kettering.

It will be a very sad day for Wrexham Football Club tomorrow when Mel Pejic ends his long association with Wrexham Football Club. I have met Mel many a time and he is a really nice bloke who has always got time for you, no matter how busy he is.

I heard rumours nefore about him not being happy as he is having to do everything himself as he has lost his assistant and this is true as there has been a huge cost cutting behind the scenes at Wrexham and sinc Moss took over I can confirm 100% true that the laundry person has gone, the groundsmen have been cut from five to two and that is looking after Colliers Park and The Racecourse Ground which two people alone won`t be able to maintain the standard of The Racecourse Ground to what we know it used to be.

He made his first team debut for Stoke in January 1980 against Ipswich Town, however he was released by Stoke at the end of the season. He signed for Hereford United where he spent the majority of his footballing career. Unfortunately a serious knee ligament injury hampered his first two seasons atEdgar Street. However in the next four seasons he missed only five matches and was voted Player of the Year for three successive seasons in 1983, 1984 and 1985. He later became the only Hereford United Captain to lifted the Welsh Cup in 1990 when Hereford defeated Wrexham at Cardiff Arms Park.

In a 12 season stint, he made 523 competitive appearances, scoring 24 goals. Of these, 412 were in league matches, for which he holds the clubs Football League appearances record, where he also scored 14 goals, and puts him second in the all time appearance list for the Bulls, behind John Layton Senior who played a total 549 times for the club during their non-league days.

He moved to Wrexham midway through the 1991-92 season, and went on to make over 100 league appearances for the Red Dragons. Towards the end of his playing days he firstly completed his FA Diploma in the Treatment and Management of Injuries, before studying and gaining a Physiotherapy Degree from Salford University, later taking over first physio duties at Wrexham and then under the managership of John Toshack the Wales national football teamsenior physiotherapists position, being promoted from a similar position with the Under 21 team, a position he still holds today.

I wish Mel all the success in the world and hope he and his family have a long and happy future.

Thanks for all the memories Mel. Will be sadly missed. Bye.

Mel Pejic to bring curtain down on Wrexham FC career Evening Leader

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/77508/mel-pejic-to-bring-curtain-down-on-wrexham-fc-career.aspx

Wrexham v Chester

A short film to show the huge differences between two sets of supporters and how they attempted to rid football of scum.

Wrexham 1 York City 0

The only thing worse than Wrexham`s performance tonight was that of the singer at Half Time, she was shocking and someone should have told her before they let her sing. The singer before kick off sang the fantastic Welsh National Anthem and the whole stadium rose to their feet and sang with her and it reminded me of the time a few years ago when we were going for promotion and The Welsh National Anthem was played on the tannoy and again the whole stadiumgot on their feet to sing the anthem. This should be done at every home game before kick as it`s great to hear and it gets the crowd going. My only complaint would be that whoever is in charge of the tannoy system should turn the volume right up high so it reverbrates around the ground because quite simply if you sit in The Mold Road Stand, the tannoy system is awful and you can`t even hear the teams being read out.

Anyway back to the match and this is how they lined up.

Wrexham: Russell, Spann (Obeng 79), Assoumani, Mike Williams, Williamson, Jones, Taboubi (Smith 62), Fleming, Neil Taylor, Gareth Taylor, Wolfenden (Cieslewicz 57).
Subs Not Used: Marc Williams, Baynes.

Booked: Russell.

Goals: Gareth Taylor 59.

York: Ingham, Purkiss, Parslow, McGurk, Meredith, Lawless (Brodie 61), Barrett, Mackin, Ferrell (Nelthorpe 81), Gash, Rankine (Smith 61).
Subs Not Used: O'Hare, Sangare.

Booked: Brodie, Smith, Mackin.

Att: 3,371

Ref: I Smedley (Derbyshire).

We nearly fell behind within 15 seconfs of kick off as Mike Williams who I thought had an awful game completely missed the ball and their player was one on one with our keeper who made a good save and things didn`t get much better for the rest of the first half when we didn`t have one shot on target to test ex-Wrexham keeper Michael Ingham who to be fair had a good game. First half we were shocking and Span was taking all the corners and throw-ins and was dreadful. Every corner he would either hit it too far so it cleared everyone or he would hit it and it wouldn`t even get past the first post and would be easily cleared. Time after time after time Spann`s corners all came to nothing and why people shout his name when we have a free kick is beyond me because he is crap at taking set pieces and it`s time everyone at the club realised this, but if he is our best set piece taker then we have real problems. Does Saunders not realise that when teams have a corner it is a good goal scoring opportunity for any other team but when we have a corner we don`t look like scoring and the players don`t even look confident that the ball is even going to reach them. We need someone else to take set pieces as it is now costing us dearly. The big no.15 up front had Mike Williams in his pocket and a couple of times Williams got lucky as the lad was twice as fast as Williams and believe me he was a monster so that`s another worry when someone as big as that can easily outpace our so called fast centre half who I thought was rubbish all night. The same lad though caught Mark Jones and appear to kick him in the back of the head when Mark was on the floor, but the ref who gave absolutely every decision to York waved play on even though he was less than ten yards away when the incident happened. Half time is greeted with a chorus of boo`s from the home supporters and I honestly thought that Saunders would make a couple of changes as we were awful and lucky to be still 0-0 but out came the same team to my absolute amazement. They were no better 2nd half and the game was crying out for a sub and on came Cieslewicz in place of Wolfenden and he was tormenting the York defence within seconds of coming on which lifted the crowd. He had a couple of chances at goal with his electric pace and when he was fouled he got back up immediately with their defender on his bum on the ground only for the referee to award a free kick to York City which baffled the whole ground but then again like I said earlier, he awarded any decision to York and was obviously a referee who hasn`t played the game as he was blowing his whistle every 2 minutes and this didn`t help Wrexham either. For god`s sake if there is an advantage to be played, then bloody play advantage and have a word after or is that too bloody hard for most referee`s these days. Within 5 mins of Cieslewicz coming on Wrexham took the lead with a great run by him to find I think Mark Jones on the edge of the box who sort of managed to chip the ball in to Gareth Taylor (who looked suspiciously offside to me), who then knelt down to head the ball into the goal in front of The Kop to put Wrexham 1-0 up.

Christian Smith came on for Taboubi who had a quiet game and in the 79th minute Obeng came on for Spann who to my utter amazement received a standing ovation from The Racecourse faithful and then was announced as Wrexham`s Sponsors Man of The Match which just goes to show how awful we were tonight. But three points is three points at the end of the day, so all in all not a bad day`s work but not a great performance.

Positives = Three points.

Negatives - Playing Mark Jones out of position on the wing when he is ten times better in the middle of the park.

Spann taking corners which don`t reach.

Mike Williams - Dreadful

Saunders - Not starting with Cieslewicz, Obeng and not making any subs at half time and not giving some of the new lads a chance to shine as the time to make changes is now because it`s obvious this is not our best eleven and is a long way away from it.

Person on tannoy - For christ sake when The Welsh National Anthem is being sung turn the bloody volume up.

The half time performance by the so called singer - I was looking for a buzzer to press as she was bloody shocking.

Team Performance out of 10 - ( 4 )

Wrexham v York City Tuesday 18th August 2009

Watch York City`s latest matches on York City Tv and let`s see if they have got any playes Wrexham need to keep an eye on tonight when we play York City at The Racecourse.

YorkCityTV

Red and Blue NET - York City FC Web Site

NewsNow: Wrexham

York City Fc Latest News Updated Every 2 Minutes

FootyMAD's Wrexham match preview

Wrexham v York City YorkCity-mad.co.uk

Wrexham v York BBC Sport

York City will have a few ex-Wrexham players in their squad when they visit Wrexham tonight and I am sure that all Wrexham fans hope they all play as they were rubbish here and if they do play then we will have nothing to worry about and should stroll to a comfortable victory although they do have a big coloured lad up front who looks a bit useful as you will see when you visit York City Tv link which is posted just above.

Taken from York City FC Blog York City`s latest match analysis

A combination of some nervy finishing and a goalkeeper in inspired form meant that City laboured to their first victory of the season over a poor Forest Green side, when the match could have been won at a canter. A Michael Rankine penalty and a late second from substitute Adam Smith ultimately saw City over the line, but not before a host of missed chances had seen fear set in that a repeat of Tuesday's goalless draw with Rushden & Diamonds was on the cards.

Forest Green, managerless after the farcical dismissal of Jim Harvey, immediately set their stall out to defend in numbers, and the game had a lethargic feel as the home side patiently held possession, as though both sides had agreed to a low-tempo encounter in anticipation of a busy mid-August schedule. Martin Foyle, having stated earlier in the week that 'we just need to decide whether we can go that adventurous and play with two out-and-out wingers', in fact decided that even one winger would be overly audacious, sticking with the same midfield four who had started the first two games despite fan pressure for the inclusion of Smith and Craig Nelthorpe.

Even playing with their very own 'wingless wonders' set-up, however, City were able to fashion a glut of opportunities in the first half. Just two minutes in, Rankine combined with his new strike partner Michael Gash (who replaced Richard Brodie in the only change from midweek), sending in an accurate cross which Gash headed directly into the arms of Rovers keeper Terry Burton. Further good work from Rankine set up an even better chance on fourteen minutes, as his flick-on found Neil Barrett, who skilfully turned inside Mark Preece before forcing Burton into the first of several impressive stops.

The visitors remained on the back foot as the first half progressed, and had Burton to thank again on the half-hour mark. Andy Ferrell's free-kick found its way to an unmarked Gash on the edge of the six-yard box, who brought the ball down and struck a powerful half volley goalwards, only to see the Forest Green stopper parry his strike at the near post. Either side of that chance, twice Rankine out-jumped the opposing defenders but failed to direct his header on target, and at the break City had nothing to show for a dominant first-half display.

After the restart, York's frustration at their failure to score in front of their home crowd in over two hours of competitive football began to impact upon the team's playing style, as an increasingly direct approach was adopted. While the approach lacked subtlety and allowed Forest Green a greater share of the ball than they had enjoyed in the first half, the opposition's defence was sufficiently disorganised to enable City's speculative long balls to lead to further scoring opportunities.

First, Ben Purkiss' punt from defence left Barrett with a free run at goal, but despite the City midfielder being bundled over in the area, no penalty was awarded. Next, Gash's flick header from a Michael Ingham long ball sent Alex Lawless clear, but his low drive was easily saved by Burton. It was the first of a hat-trick of chances which Lawless spurned against his former employers, as his curling shot was palmed around the post two minutes later, then he blazed a volley over the bar after a cross from Nelthorpe, whose introduction on the left wing just after the hour mark placated the home supporters as they cried for a more dynamic style of attacking play.

When the deadlock was finally broken fifteen minutes from time, however, it was not an incisive forward run which City had to thank, but a slice of good fortune. Rankine, having won the ball in the air from a corner, fell over the outstretched leg of Ross Stearn while running away from goal, and a penalty - which even Foyle had to admit after the match was fortunate - was given. Rankine made no mistake from the spot, dispatching a confident penalty into the bottom right-hand corner. It was a goal the frontman richly deserved, both for his industry in this game and his excellent strike against Rushden earlier in the week which was chalked off due to an early whistle.

Having conceded, Forest Green were finally forced to press forward, and with five minutes remaining they crafted their first real opening of the game. Fortunately for City, Dave McGurk kept his eye on the ball despite his relative inactivity for the previous 85 minutes, and produced a superb tackle to dispossess Steve Davies in the box. The visitors' need to strive for an equaliser left them even more exposed at the back, and substitute Brodie twice profited from gaps in the Rovers back line to run unchallenged towards goal. He first broke into the area from the left after collecting Nelthorpe's pass, but shot at Burton, then lost possession when dashing down the middle. The ball found its way to Nelthorpe, whose curling effort from twenty-five yards was palmed over by a back-pedalling Burton in possibly his best save of the afternoon.

The second goal eventually came in the last minute when Adam Smith - again restricted to the briefest of cameo appearances - collected Nelthorpe's lengthy pass and showed a composure lacking amongst other members of City's front line to turn the last defender twice before slotting the ball home at the near post. While the 2-0 scoreline failed to reflect City's overall superiority, the team's profligacy in front of goal meant that the prevailing mood was one of relief not to have dropped a further two points.

Most of Foyle's signings may already be on their way to winning over the club's fanbase, but the way in which the City boss chooses to deploy them is still a concern for many. The Minstermen now face a triple-header of away ties in the space of a week, and perhaps the absence of an expectant and impatient home crowd will allow them to play with a greater freedom; if City come away from those ties having failed to score, however, then weight will be added to the argument that Foyle's tactical negativity is holding back a talented squad.


York: Ingham, Purkiss, McGurk, Parslow, Meredith, Lawless, Mackin, Barrett, Ferrell (Nelthorpe 63), Gash (Brodie 69), Rankine (Smith 87).
Subs Not Used: O'Hare, Sangare.

Booked: McGurk, Ferrell.

Goals: Rankine 74 pen, Smith 90.

Forest Green: Burton, Taylor, McDonald (Pugh 61), Preece, Stonehouse, Else (Stearn 69), Challinor, Smith, Platt (Lloyd 76), Brown, Davies.
Subs Not Used: Pass, Baldwin.

Attendance: 1,954

York City`s opening three matches. Full Time Reports below.

York City 2-0 Forest Green Rovers (15/8/2009)

York City v Forest Green Rovers - 15.08.09

York City 0-0 Rushden and Diamonds (11/8/09)

York City v Rushden & Diamonds - 18.10.08

Oxford United 2-1 York City (8/8/2009)

OXFORD UNITED 2 - 1 York City 2009-10

Wrexham v York Tuesday 18th August 2009

Wrexham are back in action this Tuesday when they take on York City at The Racecourse. Wrexham need to get the defeat at Crawley out of their systems and put another good home performance in against York City and get their season back on track because let`s face it, defeat at Crawley Town was a dreadful performance.

A bonus for Tuesday`s home game is another performance by the wonderful singer Samantha Williams 31, from Cynwyd who entertained us all at half time in our first home game against Eastbourne singing three classic welsh songs – Ar Lan y Mor, Mor Fawr Wyt Ti and Calon Lan and she received a standing ovation at the end.

Samantha will be singing at the Racecourse before the game against York City on Tuesday night.

Back to see Jeffo at Crawley

Crawley Town v Wrexham Saturday 14th August 2009