5th September 2000:

20th February 2001: Nationwide League Division Two

Penalty Decision Turns Game Against Robins

There just ain’t no justice!! Wrexham will play a lot worse than this and win this season – indeed, they did last Saturday! However, a controversial decision by George Cain, who turned down a blatant penalty shout for Wrexham at the end of the first half was to prove costly for the Robins, as United scored in injury time and withstood a brave effort by the visitors in the second half to claim the points.

The decision of the referee was surely influenced by a rabid crowd which made much more noise than the attendance would have suggested. Having been incensed by a free kick given for a foul on Dearden when he seemed merely to mis-punch, they hounded the referee to the extent that, minutes later, when Faulconbridge was clearly pulled to the floor by Wilsterman as he tried to get onto a Gibson cross, Cain lacked the nerve to award an obvious penalty. Perhaps he had reason to fear the Millmoor crowd, as they threw constant abuse at both him and their visitors, and bottles were aimed at the Wrexham bench after the final whistle, Kristian Rogers angrily reacting as the boorish morons behind him overstepped the bounds of civilised behaviour.

Such behaviour was, to a lesser extent, reflected on the pitch. United were angry that Wrexham would not hold back the kick off when they arrived for the corresponding fixture in September and kicked and scratched themselves to a 3-1 with three bookings picked up for dissent and time wasting on the way. They added two more yellows for similar offences in the F.A. Cup clash in November, plus a red card, and picked up three more today. If they looked to their manager for guidance, it could be seen in his crazed and violent responses to every decision the referee made. In such a febrile atmosphere, is it any wonder Cain bottled the game’s big decision?

Returning to the actual football, Wrexham certainly gave as good as they got in an opening half hour which was full of good football if short on clearcut chances. Darren Ferguson was working some nice passes between the three United central defenders, and he thought he had put Russell clear early on, only for the linesman to decide he was not level with Scott. Ferguson also sent Faulconbridge away, but the striker shot too soon and Pettinger saved easily, and played a role in creating a good chance when he floated in a free kick from the right which Carey flicked on to McGregor, who got in front of his man but, as the ball arrived awkwardly at hip height, volleyed wide from eight yards.

Rotherham were playing with three men up front, their main threat coming from the aerial ability of Lee and the invention of Warne. As the half wore on Wrexham cut off their supply and left the trio isolated, their midfield of Watson and Talbot outnumbered by the willing running of Owen and Barrett, and Gibson, in for Edwards, forcing Hurst back into his own half with his best performance of the season. The pattern changed when the Millers’ skipper Watson rolled his sleeves up and tried to do something about the situation. He had already had an early chance when he hit the side-netting from close range after a long Scott throw had been punched by Dearden to Warne, whose shot was deflected up in the air to Watson; and then, after he had charged down McGregor’s clearance as the full back dallied, his shot fron the edge of the box was turned round the post by a strong left hand of Dearden.

The last chance really sparked the game off. First the home side enjoyed their best spell of the half. Watson’s cross clearly hit Ridler’s hand in the boix as he turned away from the ball and from the corner Artell was allowed a free header which Roche cleared off the line from the far post, the ball going behind for another corner which Talbot hit from the edge of the box, Carey deflecting behind for another corner. When that came in, Dearden punched weakly to Lee, who headed wide, the referee mistakenly blowing for a foul on the keeper. All this happened with Wrexham in disarray, down to ten men as Owen received treatment.

However, Wrexham fought back and showed more threat than they had previously. That controversial refusal of Faulconbridge’s palpable penalty shout soon followed. Within a minute the referee penalised a similar but much more innocuous challenge on Gibson thirty yards out, but while the other players stood around, perhaps reflecting on the irony of the referee’s decisions, Ferguson and Russell showed great awareness, the former playing an astute quick free kick to the latter, who rounded the keeper but saw his cross blocked by Scott, Pettiner reaching the loose ball first.

Cruelly for Wrexham, they were to pay for those two moments not going their way twenty seconds short of the end of the three minutes the referee added on for injuries. With the defence looking disorganised in the centre, Warne chipped a cross to the edge of the six yard box, Dearden decided late to come for it and then changed his mind, and Lee comprehensively out-jumped Carey to plant a towering header into the top right corner of the goal.

Unabashed, Wrexham started the second half with real purpose, Gibson cutting inside and drilling a shot which Pettinger tipped round at full stretch. Within a minute Owen crossed from the right and Russell stooped to head narrowly wide from the edge of the box.

Just as they began to look like they were going to profit from this pressure, the visitors were again hit by a goal against the run of play. Ridler picked up the first booking of the night for a trip on Lee as he cut in from the left, and the resulting free kick was swept in to the near post by Watson for Artell to flick on. Dearden ought to have dealt with the glancing header better, but he fumbled it on the half volley, low to his left, and Wilsterman was able to stab the loose ball into the net from close in.

Wrexham responded to this second goal by throwing Blackwood and Trundle on, switching to 4-4-2 and committing more men into attack. Both showed good touches and Trundle held the ball up manfully, having one powerful shot blocked from the edge of the box. However, their adventure left them susceptible to the counterattack, which was epitomised when an excellent Wrexham move ended in Ferguson’s pass being intercepted, Lee running the length of the half, beating Carey on the edge of the box and shooting across Dearden, Ridler clearing off the line.

With just over ten minutes left the final gamble was taken, with Morrell replacing Ridler, and within a minute he ought to have scored with his first touch when Trundle’s cross from the right found him unmarked at the far post, but his header lacked conviction and was well parried. As the Wrexham pressure mounted, the referee denied them two more times, first when Brian Carey, the only Wrexham player close enough to see the incident, appealed for handball against Wilsterman in the six yard box, then when he simultaneously booked two United players for dissent and yet failed to walk the free kick on the edge of the box forward ten yards (as he booked two, perhaps he should have walked it forward twenty yards over the goal line and awarded a goal!)

It was desperate stuff by now, with Wrexham pouring gamely forward and leaving gaps at the back. Rotherham looked likely to profit from the breaks they mustered: a Watson free kick was headed wide by Artell from inside the six yard box, and Carey was lucky not to be penalised in the closing minutes when he seemed to trip Watson as he turned in the box. A third goal certainly would have been exceptionally harsh on Wrexham, who acquitted themselves well but returned empty-handed.

ROTHERHAM UNITED (3-4-3): Pettinger; Scott, Wilsterman, Artell; Garner, Watson (c), Talbot, Hurst; Warne, Robins (Bryan 82), Lee (Barker 89). UNUSED SUBS: Sedgwick, Hudson, Connor.

WREXHAM (4-3-3): Dearden; Roche, Carey (c), Ridler (Morrell 78), McGregor; Owen (Blackwood 67), Ferguson, Barrett; Gibson, Russell, Faulconbridge (Trundle 65). UNUSED SUBS: Rogers, Williams.

Referee: George Cain (Bootle)

Bookings:
Rotherham		Wrexham
Lee (stopping free kick, 68)		Ridler (foul on Lee, 64)
Talbot (dissent, 88)		Roche (foul on Warne, 81)
Warne (dissent, 88)		Carey (foul on Lee, 88)

Attendance: 4,528

Reaction: Danny Bergara

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