Thanks again to Rory Sheehan who will be providing match reports and feature articles
Ebbsfleet 3 Wrexham 1
Wrexham’s FA Trophy adventure ended with a dismal performance away at holders Ebbsfleet in this Quarter-Final replay.
Hot on the heels of the original fixture days earlier, manager Dean Saunders put out his full strength side in the hope that they would succeed were fringe players failed.
Back into the side came Ashley Westwood at the heart of defence, Neil Taylor at right-back and Marc Williams up front. Out went Christian Gyan, Aurelien Collin (suspended) and Sam Aiston.
The play continued from where it left off on Saturday as neither side looked particularly impressive or capable of really dominating each other as half chances came and went.
After the half-time break however, the story was very different. Early on a horrendous back header from Fleet sub’ Sacha Opinel presented Jefferson Louis with an opportunity to smash the ball home and give Wrexham the lead.
Sadly the Dragons then squandered the gift and self-destructed. With just over an hour to go Guiseppe Sole left Neil Taylor in his wake and fired across the oncoming Gavin Ward to level the score. Saunders then replaced Jon Brown with Nathan Fairhurst.
Minutes later Andrew Crofts hauled down Adam Barrett and Fleet were awarded a penalty. Luke Moore stepped up but Ward was equal to it making a fine save.
By now Ebbsfleet were in total control with Wrexham pegged back in their own half just hanging on. With quarter of an hour to go the scoreline reflected the home side’s superiority when Moore made up for his penalty miss as his terrific long-range shot made it 2-1.
Ryan Flynn and Andy Fleming were replaced with Patrick Suffo and Jamie McCluskey as Saunders looked to salvage the game and at least force extra-time or penalties.
Unfortunately the tie was finished as a contest with 7 minutes to go after another well-taken long-range shot, this time from John Martin, sealed Ebbsfleet’s place in the Semi’s. There was no coming back for Wrexham after that.
In truth, the Dragons didn’t deserve to progress. Over the two games they were a shadow of the side most fans have come to recognise under Dean Saunders with this performance being as poor as any under his tenure so far. Ebbsfleet were undeniably the better team in the replay.
Though many Wrexham fans and most probably Saunders as well, will not lose much sleep over the FA Trophy, these two games have given us a lot to think about.
Worryingly, a little momentum seems to have been lost from the promotion push but it speaks volumes for the general improvement under Saunders that 3 games without a win is considered something of a crisis by some fans. It isn’t, but Wrexham can’t afford too many more sub-standard performances or a second, more valued, route to Wembley through the play-offs could be snuffed out too…
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