Wrexham 0 Macclesfield 1

Two years ago referee Darren Drysdale incurred the wrath of the Racecourse faithful with an abysmal performance in a home game against Carlisle United. Last night his incompetent second-half performance surpassed even that shambles. Brian Carey has come under a lot criticism recently, some fair, some not, but he was powerless to prevent a shockingly bad referee dump Wrexham out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy last night.

Carey made changes that many of his critics had been calling for. Mike Carvill was given a full game on the right and excelled. Eifion Williams was moved up front and Neil Roberts was dropped. Silvio Spann and Matt Crowell started in central midfield. Simon Spender made way at the back to accommodate Mike Williams’s first appearance of the season, Valentine moving to right-back.

There was definitely a determination about Wrexham last night as they started brightly, the Macc full-backs struggling to cope with Done and Carvill. Macc’s closest opportunity came from a corner. Ex-red Jimmy McNulty’s glancing header brushed the outside of the outside of the post, whereas their defence struggled to clear after good work from Done had set up a shot for Llewellyn. Unfortunately Carey had to shuffle things around again as he lost two left-sided defenders to injury. First Mike Williams was replaced by Pejic. Then Valentine was replaced by Mike’s brother Marc Williams.
  

By half-time we had reverted to 3-5-2 with the three centre-halfs Hope, Pejic and Stevie Evans looking very comfortable at the back, giving Done and Carvill even more scope to stretch Macc out wide. In the centre Silvio Spann showed determination, some really nice touches on the ball, excellent vision and plenty of passing ability to make things tick.

Done was giving Macc’s Carl Regan a torrid time, beating him again to crash a cross-come-shot against the underside of the bar. As the ball bounced down Wrexham had valid claims for a penalty as Proctor was flattened by a Macc defender in his attempts to reach the ball.
   

Just a minute or so later Drysdale left Wrexham fans foaming at the mouth as he gave Macc a penalty for a supposed ‘hand-ball’ by Marc Williams as he tried to break free of a Macc player. Michael Husbands stepped up to score. Less than 5 minutes later Drysdale increased the mounting rage of the crowd by giving Llewellyn a yellow card for a foul. A red card followed seconds later, presumably for something in Llewellyn’s language that wasn’t to Mr Drysdale’s sensitive taste.

Down to ten men Wrexham battled on giving everything and looking more like the team who wanted to win the game. Macc seemed intent on sitting back and time-wasting, Regan in particular. The presence of Proctor, on for Eifion, caused the Macc defence further problems as we created chances and Steve Evans was thrown up front (to good effect).
  

However with just minutes left to go Drysdale ensured we would not get back level by sending Proctor off. He had landed on a Macc player with no intent, although the ball had gone, there was nothing malicious in it at all. We finished the game with 9 men, four injuries and suspensions to two left-backs and two strikers, an incensed crowd and were genuinely robbed. It was that simple. Another defeat that Carey’s critics will use against him but few at the game would really be able to argue he got anything wrong.

As for Darren Drysdale, if he never picks up the whistle again Wrexham fans will rejoice.

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Wrexham 0 Rotherham Utd 1

Oh dear. Following the Hereford game we had a two week break for international football before resuming our season at home to recently relegated Rotherham. I’m sure many were looking forward to seeing the lads prove the doubters wrong by putting in a good all-round performance, topped off with an encouraging victory.

Unfortunately, yet again, it didn’t happen. There were boo’s again at the end of the first half, when substitutions were made, and at the final whistle.Things never really got going in the first-half as Rotherham didn’t look up to much and neither did we. Hardly any chances were created by either side, there was little creativity full stop. Levi Mackin was in for the injured Danny Williams, and Eifion Williams started in place of Chris Llewellyn who had been dropped to the bench.

Frustratingly Eifion, our most natural goalscorer, is still being played out wide. Steve Evans was back at the heart of the defence which, to be fair, didn’t have a bad game and Anthony Williams always looked sound.
The ineffective Mark Jones was subbed at half-time, possibly still suffering from the illness he picked up while on international duty in midweek.

He was replaced by Matty Crowell. It’s the first-time we’ve seen Matty for over nine months because of his injury problems so it’s nice to see him back and fully recovered. He did well and was soon joined by new signing Silvio Spann in central midfield. The Trinidadian looks like a cult hero in the making with a combative style, some nice touches on the ball, a powerful shot and those flowing dreadlocks.

Matty Done was subbed for Chris Llewellyn which led to large sections of the crowd leaving Brian Carey in no doubt as to what they thought of his decision.

Feeling we were heading for a draw, a Rotherham break downfield which looked suspiciously offside led to a cross from Andy Todd. It was met by their substitute Chris O’Grady to fire them into the lead and leave us all with that gut-wrenching feeling again. In the final quarter on hour Wrexham increased their urgency but, as with the majority of the game, it was long balls from the back to forwards who struggled to hold the ball up or ever look like a goal threat.

A Silvio Spann free-kick in stoppage time earned a corner which saw a Steve Evans header cleared off the line. It was our best chance of the game, the final whistle sounded and so did the booing from disgruntled Wrexham fans.

Still bottom of the league, it’s hard to defend the team and Carey after another performance like that. Silvio Spann was a small positive. We also don’t have to wait too long for our next game, at home to Macclesfield in the JPT competition.

I really hope Carey can put things right soon, as I still believe he can and will. Even before the last few games he’s never really had great support from the fans which hasn’t been fair.Performances like this one and the Hereford game will do little to relieve the pressure however from the doubters, as we remain bottom of the table for now.

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Supporting Wrexham Fc