Port Vale

26th December 2000: Nationwide League Division Two

Dearden’s One-Man Show

How ironic: after losing a series of home games in which they played well, Wrexham play badly at home and win; having been the better team in their last three away league games and lost 1-0, they get to see things from the opposite perspective and win 1-0 despite being out-played. What a difference an early goal makes: when Darren Ferguson swung a right wing free kick down the throat of Vale keeper Mark Goodlad, only to see him remain rooted to the line, allowing Craig Faulconbridge to jump in front of him and nod into an empty net, it all looked plain sailing. However, that fifth minute strike proved to be a false dawn, as Port Vale responded by dominating the remainder of the match, denied only by a remarkable performance by Kevin Dearden as their desperation led to a failure to remain calm in front of goal.

The message from troubled Port Vale before the game was a familiar lament from a struggling team, and will have struck a chord with Wrexham supporters too; they are playing well but can’t take their chances. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!! If they thought life was cruel before today, they will have been positively suicidal after a game in which they dominated midfield, with the trio of Tommy Widdrington, Jeff Minton and the returning Dave Brammer achieving the rare feat of dominating their Wrexham counterparts, and Alex Smith a constant danger down the left.

The first ten minutes gave little hint of what was to come, though, as Wrexham started forcefully. Before his error lead to Faulconbridge’s strike, Goodlad showed signs of his fallibility when a twenty-five yard daisy-cutter from Martyn Chalk bounced off his chest and behind for a corner. He also had to scramble to turn a Kevin Russell drive away after a shooting chance from fifteen yards had been created by a surge from Emad Bouanane, back for Adrian Moody and typically promising thrills whenever he got the ball in attacking positions and spills when he received it at the back.

No more significant efforts were registered by the Robins until injury time, though, as the story became one of Dearden denying Vale with a succession of fine stops. The first came shortly before Faulconbridge’s goal, when O’Callaghan sent Brammer clear only to be denied by the onrushing keeper, who parried his shot. Not long afterwards Dearden was pressed into making a similar save as Smith ran through on goal inside Roche. His next effort came when Marc Bridge-Wilkinson swerved a twenty yard free kick around the wall which Dearden had to tip round the post at full stretch, and the resultant corner saw him called into action again when Walsh lost his marker and met Smith’s cross with a firm header which Dearden saved with his foot. When the loose ball was whipped back in again, Wrexham’s defending was lax once more and Alan Tankard was agonisingly close to making contact as he was allowed to attack the ball unmolested three yards out.

Dearden was helpless for once in injury time when Bridge-Wilkinson beat Carey to a long ball over the top and rounded the keeper, but Dearden at least forced him wide, and his hurried cross into the six yard box floated harmlessly behind as a flock of frustrated team mates arrrived at the edge of the box. Wrexham mounted a late rally when Bouanane again broke forward, teeing up Chalk whose drive from twenty yards went narrowly wide, but in reality their attacking possibilities were already limited when Craig Faulconbridge had to go off with a broken nose. The big striker had been impressive, quite apart from his goal, striking up a productive partnership with Russell, who again covered a terrific amount of ground intelligently. The loss of Faulconbridge meant Wrexham lacked a target man to throw the ball up to when the pressure built up, and with the midfield misfiring in an uncharacteristic manner there was little decent service for Russell and Hector Sam to use.

Only a controversial decision denied them an early second half goal, though. Ferguson’s corner to the edge of the six-yard box was headed in by Mark McGregor as the miserable Goodlad stumbled under pressure and referee Matt Messias, fresh from a lambasting by Gordon Strachan after his Premiership debut last week, gave the goal. However, Wrexham’s bad luck with linesmen was about to carry over from Saturday’s game as a flag was raised against Hector Sam, who was standing in the goalmouth in what was possibly an offside position, although whether he was interfering with play is a more difficult question to answer.

Soon the pattern of the first half was being repeated, with Vale on top, although Wrexham had at least tightened up a little, with Smith allowed less space down the left and Carey and McGregor battling to protect their overworked keeper. When they failed to shield him, Dearden was more than up to the task, and produced a magnificent double save just before the hour mark, parrying Minton’s deflected drive, then producing a fine reflex save as O’Callaghan raced unmolested onto the loose ball with just the prostrate keeper to beat. O’Callaghan was again denied when he raced into the box only to be beaten to the ball by the onrushing keeper, and when Dearden’s eagerness got the better of him the stand-in striker lifted a decent lob over the bar.

Wrexham had to take the rare measure of replacing the misfiring Darren Ferguson with Waynne Phillips to try to stem the tide in midfield, and they at least managed to avert a late surge by the visitors as they finished fairly strongly themselves. Bouanane embarked on yet another charge and produced a shot which Goodlad saved at full stretch and Phillips drove a shot into the side-netting when Sam was unmarked in the six yard box, but the final cruel twist in Goodlad’s day was yet to come. Sam chased a long ball over the top and Goodlad raced out, caught it on the edge of the box and took an inadvertant step over the line with the ball in his hands. Although he certainly couldn’t be thought to have handled deliberately, Messias did what most referees would do in that situation and produced a red card from his shirt pocket having first gone into the back pocket of his shorts, apparently for a yellow. The substitute keeper was rushed on and Sam lashed the free kick well over the bar. The visitors still managed to get the ball up the pitch for O’Callaghan to lash a twenty yard volley narrowly wide, but then it was never going to go in – it just wasn’t that type of day for Vale.

WREXHAM (4-3-3): Dearden; Roche, Carey (c), McGregor, Bouanane; Chalk, Ferguson (Phillips 64), Owen; Edwards (Gibson 86), Russell, Faulconbridge (Sam 42). UNUSED SUBS: Walsh, Barrett.

PORT VALE (5-3-2): Goodlad; Cummins (Eyre 80, Delaney 90), Carragher, Walsh, Tankard, Smith; Brammer, Widdrington (c), Minton (Burton 80); O’Callaghan, Bridge-Wilkinson. UNUSED SUBS: Burns, Twiss.

Referee: Matt Messias (York)

Bookings:
	Wrexham	Port Vale
	Roche (foul on O’Callaghan, 51)	Smith (foul on Russell 31)
		Brammer (foul on Chalk, 59)
Sending Off
		Goodlad (professional foul, 90)

Attendance: 4,941

Reaction: Brian Flynn / Hector Sam / Brian Horton:

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