Thanks again to Rory Sheehan who will be providing match reports and feature articles
Wrexham 0 Burton Albion 1
Wrexham deservedly suffered their first home defeat of the season against part-time Burton Albion following a disappointing performance at the Racecourse Ground.
Levi Mackin returned to the starting line-up in place of Nat Brown, with the rest of the side unchanged from the team that won away so comprehensively at the weekend.
Burton were given an early scare in the opening period of play when Simon Brown was played through by Baynes. Brown unleashed a shot that had Burton’s 45-year-old goalkeeper Kevin Poole well beaten. Unfortunately it came back off the underside of the bar and Jeff Louis was unable to put away the rebound.
Having survived, and been forced into an early substitution, Burton took the lead with a goal gifted to them by the Wrexham defence. It would not have looked out of place alongside the worst of last season’s comedy defending.
A poor back-pass from Carl Tremarco should have been booted away by goalkeeper Gavin Ward. Instead he Ward decided to dribble with the ball, allowing himself to be caught by Burton’s Shaun Harrad who subsequently placed the ball into the empty net.
Despite some arguable refereeing decisions in Burton’s favour, and a possible penalty appeal for Wrexham turned down, they were the better side. They dominated the midfield, winning most balls, using the space well, and put incisive passes together – something which Wrexham failed to do all night.
Our attempts came to nothing and when Burton did get a sight of goal they were usually only a whisker away from doubling the lead.
The second-half saw Wrexham dominate more but Burton were strong defensively and as the clock wound down, and the Racecourse faithful grew more restless, they ran out of ideas. The introduction of Aiston and Christian Smith for Mackin and Baynes did little to alter things.
Our best chance of the half again fell to Simon Brown when, from a set-piece, he headed just over the bar on the six-yard box. Had he headed the ball downwards he would surely have equalised.
On-loan striker Jon Newby was introduced for the away side to a predictable barrage of abuse from Wrexham fans, heightened by Burton’s understandable time-wasting tactics.
For the first time this season striker Michael Proctor was named in the Wrexham squad. With just over 10 minutes to go Brian Little bowed to the chorus of Wrexham fans calling for his introduction.
Bizarrely Proctor replaced Louis, probably the most effective forward partner he could have, and was left for whatever scraps came his way alongside the ineffective Brown and Whalley.
A close header over the bar from Steve Evans apart, a tiring Burton side managed to not only contain Wrexham in the closing stages, but keep the ball deep in the Wrexham half. They were helped by our inability to retain possession and make something of it.
Shortly afterwards a good sized crowd trudged away from the Racecourse musing our inconsistency under Brian Little, still no back-to-back wins under his reign. To be fair Burton were well-drilled, playing decent football under Nigel Clough whose tactical approach was spot on.
Saturday sees a trip to Cambridge United and a meeting with a few familiar, if not controversial faces, namely: Lee McEvilly, Phil Bolland and the Wrexham player that never was – Paul Carden.
A much better performance is needed if we are to have any hope of taking anything from the game.
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