5th September 2000:

21st November 2000: Nationwide League Division Two

Wrexham Look Gift Horse in the Mouth

After losing seven out of ten games at home so far this season, a draw might be seen as a decent outcome, but this result can only be a disappointment as Wrexham failed to put a substandard Cambridge side to the sword. While the heroics of Lionel Perez, who pulled off a string of glorious saves, was undoubtedly a key factor in the result, the home side squandered a procession of easy chances and paid the price when Paul Connor pounced in the 91st minute to score his second goal with United’s only dangerous moment of the half, latching onto the ball after Paul Mardon had lost the ball weakly on the edge of the area and steering an accurate but hardly stinging shot into the corner of the net from outside the area. It was hard to imagine Perez letting such an effort past him, and the nature of the goal just added to the bitter gall of the Wrexham fans.

A reshuffled Wrexham side, with Brian Carey returning alongside Paul Mardon in defence, Chris Killen lining up in attack, and Gareth Owen taking the place of Paul Barrett, started briskly on a slippery surface which made defending difficult. Within four minutes Killen latched onto a reverse ball by Carlos Edwards to score, only to be pulled back by a linesman’s flag. It was a marginal decision which turned out to be a suitable introduction to the assistant referee, a Mr. Wright, whose decisions had a random feel throughout the match. Indeed, he switched sides to disallow another Killen "goal" in the second half.

Soon after Killen’s strike came what will surely be proven to be the miss of the season. Faulconbridge typically chased a lost cause into the corner, retrieved the ball and worked it back to Martyn Chalk, whose cross picked out Mardon alone on the edge of the six yard box. With Perez rooted to the spot on his line, Mardon only had to hit the target, but he bizarrely drove the ball into the ground and it looped harmlessly high and wide. Moments later Killen also spurned a good chance when a fine move involving Chalk and Faulconbridge ended in Ferguson sending him clear, but he blasted his shot over.

Premiership referee Jeff Winter, who had a nightmare of a second half, waved away shouts for a red card against Tom Cowan, who was returning from a three match susopension, when he barged Chalk over as he raced clear, and Wanless, in a rare United attack, headed wide when unmarked from Gudmunsson’s cross, before Perez began his one-man campaign against the Wrexham strikers with an incredible double save. Killen nodded a high ball down to Faulconbridge, who shot on the turn from six yards out, only for Perez to execute a spectacular reflex save to his left, and when Killen won back the loose ball and fired in a vicious drive of his own from point blank range, Perez remarkably managed to fling up a hand and touch it over. Killen probably should have given him no chance from such a position, and might have been better served had he opted for accuracy rather than power, but it remained as good a piece of goalkeeping as anyone is likely to have seen at The Racecourse for some time – what a shame that a miserable crowd of barely 1,500, the lowest home league attendance for eight years, were there to see it.

The save took on even greater significance when, soon afterwards, Cambridge took the lead. Mardon continued his miserable evening with an error which presented the ball to Jonas Axendal, who sent Connor clear to round Dearden and slot the ball home. Deflated by this depressingly familiar state of affairs, Wrexham suffered a rocky period as their wobbly defence was put under pressure for the only time in the game. With Mardon struggling and Roche making uncharacteristic errors, the last thing Wrexham needed was for Brian Carey to let his standards slip, but he did make one error which presented possession to Wanless, and only an heroic block to retrieve the situation, and another to stop Gudmonsson’s follow-up shot prevented a second goal. When Connor hit the bar with a spectacular volley as the half drew to a close, the faithful fans feared the worst, although there was one glimmer of hope when a 2-on-1 break was manufactured which Edwards wasted.

Carlos Edwards was something of an enigma in the first half, always keen to be involved and threatening whenever he received the ball, as the half wore on he produced less and less in terms of a killer ball. However, as the second half resumed he began to find some end product and became the focal point as Wrexham pounded United’s goal. The problem was finding a way to beat Perez, and in the opening five minutes of the half both Killen and Faulconbridge met Edwards crosses with headers which drew brilliant saves.

It was bound to take something brilliant to beat the Frenchman, and that was exactly what Gareth Owen produced in the 53rd minute. Making his first league start in thirteen games, the Welshman received a pass from Killen after an overhit corner and buried a sensational twenty yard drive into the top right corner.

As United folded, the game became a procession of Wrexham opportunities. Killen was the victim of a late, dubious flag when Owen followed his goal with a cracking shot a minute later, Killen netting the rebound as it bounced away from Perez. Owen also shot wide from a Ferguson corner as he tried to repeat his goal, and Chalk hit a cracking drive just over from twenty five yards. Edwards had a good effort blocked after an incisive ball by Killen, Owen whipped the resultant corner across the face of the goal, and after a wonderful move, Killen was again halted by a marginal decision by the linesman.

The second goal had to come, and it was the reward for another good move; Chalk threaded a nice ball to the far post, where Edwards’ cushioned volley inside was met by the onrushing Owen, whose half-volley flew into the top left corner via Perez’s desperately outstretched foot.

Cambridge remained in disarray, and Wrexham seemed to be comfortable winners, as they continued to dominate. A neat triangle down the right ended in Roche’s cross being headed just over by Faulconbridge, but few further chances were created, and Connor’s injury time steal left the Robins contemplating the fact that they had failed to take the points in a match which saw them carve out a succession of easy chances against inept opposition.

WREXHAM (4-3-3): Dearden; Roche, Carey (c), Mardon, McGregor; Chalk, Ferguson, Owen; Edwards, Killen, Faulconbridge. UNUSED SUBS: Rogers, Russell, Bouanane, Blackwood, Barrett.

CAMBRIDGE UNITED (4-4-2): Perez; McAnespie (Oakes 77), Dreyer, Duncan, Cowan; Gudmunsson (Mustoe 46), Wanless (c), Ashbee, Youngs; Connor, Axeldal (Russell 63). UNUSED SUBS: Hansen, Marshall.

Referee: Jeff Winter (Stockton-on-Tees)

Bookings:
	Wrexham	Cambridge United
	Ferguson (foul on McAnespie, 69)	Mustoe (Foul on Ferguson, 87)

Attendance: 1,584

 

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