Buckley&District Reds

The recent news of Hector Sam’s release by Notts County triggered another debate among Wrexham fans, the sort we’ve been having about the Trinidadian since he arrived at the Racecourse nearly eight years ago. Is, or was, Hector good enough for Wrexham?

 

For the five years that he was with Wrexham, Hector was nothing if not an enigma. He arrived from Trinidad in the summer of 2000 along with fellow countryman Carlos Edwards. They were joined later in the season by Dennis Lawrence. Out of the trio it seemed that Hector was quickest to settle.

 

Making his debut on the first day of the 2000-01 season against Bristol City, he went on to score six goals in his first seven games. Then aged 22, it looked like we had a raw talent to work with. He had pace, a little skill and an eye for goal.

 

Unfortunately, after that prolific start Hector failed to net again that season as his weaknesses came to the fore. He would lose the ball running at defenders as often as he’d go past them. His shooting was highly erratic in that he’d balloon the ball over the bar or wide as often as he’d get it on target. Other times he’d generally be muscled out of games.

 

He wasn’t the only one struggling. Carlos Edwards was also inconsistent and Dennis Lawrence had a torrid start to his Wrexham career. At the beginning of the next season (2001-02) he barely featured until Brian Flynn was sacked and replaced by Denis Smith as manager.

In one of Smith’s early games Hector came off the bench at big-spending Wigan, hitting an equaliser in a game we went on to win. Just a month later he put in a woeful performance in front of the BBC cameras as we lost at Hereford in the FA Cup 1st Round. It gave the studio pundits plenty to analyse.

 

For the rest of that season he was in and out of the side as we slumped to relegation. He next scored when he grabbed an early brace at Bury that January, earning us a 2-2 draw. A final season’s tally of five was obviously less than convincing for Denis Smith.

 

2002-03 saw Wrexham back in the basement division and Hector as back-up to Smith’s preferred strike partnership of Andy Morrell and Lee Trundle. However, Hector proved his worth by coming off the bench in early games at home to Oxford and away at Macclesfield, by grabbing the winning goals. He also netted against Swansea but given a run of starts in place of Trundle, working as a foil for Morrell, he struggled to impress.

 

He was back in his most effective role, coming off the bench to cause the opposition problems at the end of games. He notched a vital late winner at Carlisle but while Edwards and Lawrence found a regular starting berth, consistency and quality form in Smith’s new team, Hector stalled. Injury and lack of progression saw him slip behind Lee Jones in the ‘super-sub’ pecking order.

 

Having seen promotion sealed to what is now League 1, Wrexham fans were dealt a massive blow with the news that Morrell and Trundle were off to pastures new. Smith replaced them with ‘stadium fillers’ Chris Llewellyn and Chris Armstrong. Hector started on the bench and in only the season’s second game came on to notch the winner at Notts County.

Eventually injury to Armstrong helped him gain a starting place but the goals didn’t come. His frustrating inconsistency divided Wrexham fans who, manager, team-mates and opposition defenders alike, never knew what to expect from Hector.

 

He scored three goals in December 2003 that won games for us after another run of starts with Lee Jones also on the injured list. When Llewellyn and Armstrong were back however, Hector was out of the side.

Towards the end of that season another injury to Armstrong gave Hector another chance in the starting line-up. He’d wanted to prove his ability to Smith and this time he took the opportunity. Goals at Colchester and Oldham were followed by two at home to Luton. The latter two were particularly good examples of well-taken goals on a day when Hector was unplayable.

 

Hector finished 2003-04 as top scorer with 12 goals in all competitions. Llewellyn and Armstrong had struggled to capture the imagination of the Racecourse faithful. At the start of 2004-05 Armstrong was still plagued by injury, so Hector started the season in the team.

With the club sliding into turmoil off the field Hector gave us something to smile about with a hat-trick at Oldham to put us 3-0 up. The first came in under two minutes and his potency in front of goal that night left Oldham too much to do as they came back, but still lost 3-2. He scored in the Carling Cup at Hull and set us on our way to the LDV Vans Trophy Final with a late winner away at Notts County in the 1st Round.

 

Hector continued to keep his place as we slid into administration and resources became stretched. He received an uncharacteristic red card at Huddersfield and it was December until he made a real impact again with the winner at home to Stockport, shortly after we’d had our 10 point deduction.

The second-half of the season saw him mostly as a substitute again once the prolific goal-scoring talent of Juan Ugarte had been discovered. Still, Hector had his moments. After scoring a consolation at Hull and nearly rescuing a point, he headed home a crucial equaliser against Colchester days later.

The next month he scored a last-minute winner at home to Oldham which kept us in the fight to avoid relegation. His last goal for the club came a week later at Swindon. He was an unused sub for the LDV Trophy final and his contract was up for renewal that summer. He was offered a new deal by Denis Smith but seemed unconvinced Smith really appreciated him.

 

Despite relegation, losing Ugarte to Crewe, Llewellyn to Hartlepool and releasing Armstrong, Smith couldn’t guarantee Hector regular football. Lee McEvilly and Jon Walters joined and Hector left for League 1 side Port Vale. Under current Wrexham coach Martin Foyle Hector started in the Vale side before unfortunately breaking his leg.

The injury not only put him out for the rest of Vale’s season but ruled him out of going to the 2006 World Cup with Trinidad & Tobago. He was named on the standby list for the initial squad but was unable to be a part of the fairytale, along with former Wrexham team-mates Edwards and Lawrence.

Though he recovered from the injury he was released by Vale and joined Walsall in League 2 for the 2006-07 season. He featured regularly at the Bescot either starting or as a substitute, scoring seven goals as the Saddlers clinched promotion. One of those goals came against Wrexham at the Racecourse. True to his words before the game, he didn’t celebrate the goal, a tap-in from close range.

 

Hector again found himself released in the summer but was taken on by Notts County for this season. Most of his appearances at Meadow Lane were from the bench and he only managed two goals before his contract was terminated by mutual consent at the beginning of March 2008.

 

This recent news, coinciding with the current lack of goals from our temporary strikers has led some Wrexham fans to debate whether it would be worth taking a chance on Hector again.

We’ve seen a few strikers signed either permanently or on loan poorer than Hector since he left. You could guarantee that he would chip in with his share of goals every season. Sometimes, when he was on song, he could win us the game single-handedly as the performances against Luton and at Oldham in 2004 showed.

 

However it did not happen enough for Denis Smith to have faith in him to be any more than a squad player. That’s understandable that he would want someone more reliable. There were many times when the Racecourse held its head in its hands as Hector missed a sitter, fluffed an easy chance from only yards out with an air shot, or ended up falling on his backside.

On bad day’s he’d leave you either cringing with despair or laughing out loud. On good day’s he’d have the crowd chanting ‘Hector Sam, Sam, Sam’. Either way he’d take the reaction in his stride with a beaming smile, his trademark grin.