Thanks again to Rory Sheehan who will be providing match reports and feature articles
Basingstoke 1 Wrexham 2
Wrexham booked a trip to Workington after beating Basingstoke in this much postponed FA Trophy 2nd Round fixture. After over two weeks without a game, it was good to finally play our first match of 2009, and put the nonsense of ‘Facebook-gate’, and ridiculously premature transfer requests behind us.
Dean Saunders took the opportunity to rest Ashley Westwood and Marc Williams while giving the likes of Steve Evans a reprieve. Despite the changes the gulf between Wrexham and their part-time Blue Square South hosts was still large, and evident throughout the game.
From the kick-off Wrexham were the dominant side and were unlucky not to take the lead through a Nathan Woolfe shot dealt with by goalkeeper Ketteridge. After quarter of an hour the Dragons did go in front.
A long-ball out of defence from Steve Evans was met by the head of Basingstoke defender Adam Amiable who, unfortunately for the home side, saw it beat Ketteridge and end up in his own net to give Wrexham the advantage.
The goal was no more than Wrexham deserved and with Andy Fleming running the game, ably helped by Ryan Flynn, Nathan Woolfe and Nathan Fairhurst, Wrexham were always in control. They should and could have extended the lead but for all their good play, amount of possession and chances created, failed to do so.
This failure to capitalise gave the home side hope and they gradually made their way back into it as half-time drew near.
With Basingstoke looking to exploit the left-footed right-back Neil Taylor, Saunders introduced Simon Spender at half-time. Continuing his comeback from injury, ‘Spends’ shored up the defence as again, Wrexham exerted their dominance.
The lead was doubled in just under an hour when another smart move involving Fleming and a cross from Sam Williamson was tapped home by Jefferson Louis. However, almost immediately Spender was required to clear off the line from a Basingstoke attack.
As the game drew to a close, and Sam Aiston and Patrick Suffo were given run-outs, Wrexham should have been out of sight. With minutes to go Steve Evans conceded a free-kick dangerously close to the penalty area. Sobi Jombarti’s classy effort beat Ward (who’d looked shaky all night) to reduce the deficit and flatter Basingstoke a little.
There were no late scares and in the end, though it wasn’t reflected in the scoreline, Wrexham were comfortably through to the 3rd Round.
Saunders will be concerned that recently we haven’t shown the cutting edge in front of goal to match our play and possession. He will be heartened though by the passing, vision and all-round play of Andy Fleming who seems to get better by the game.
Overall it was a good work-out, a relief to play a game at last after the distracting off-field issues, and decent preparation ahead of a much more important fixture at Torquay on Friday night.
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