Thanks again to Rory Sheehan who will be providing match reports and feature articles
Wrexham 1 Torquay 1
Just hours before kick-off it was announced that Brian Little had left the club by ‘mutual consent’ leaving assistant manager Brian Carey and coach Martin Foyle to oversee this game.
In the wake of a poor run of form and the humiliation at the hands of Rushden & Diamonds in midweek, this was an outcome many Wrexham fans had hoped for. However, it did leave us somewhat in the lurch for the visit of a Torquay side who had won their last 4 games.
In the event, regardless of whether Brian Little had picked the team, his departure seemed to galvanise the side to produce a much-improved performance.
Previous ever-presents Louis and captain Kearney were dropped and replaced by Christian Smith and Marc Williams. Mike Williams came in at left-back with Tremarco pushed further forward. Nat Brown moved to centre-back in place of Steve Evans. There was also a return for Simon Spender at right-back.
Wrexham started cautiously having to soak up pressure from the away side and having to take their chances on the counter-attack. Pleasingly when Wrexham did get forward it was through playing the ball on the floor rather than in the air and the Racecourse faithful duly showed their appreciation.
Just as Wrexham seemed to be gaining in confidence Torquay took the lead. The defence were caught napping as Tim Sills broke through and though he scuffed his shot it was enough to beat Gavin Ward.
However 10 minutes later, just before half-time, as it seemed that Torquay would build on their lead Wrexham were back in the game. Seemingly out of nowhere they put a move together which finished with Marc Williams putting Simon Brown in on goal. Before Brown could be closed down he fired home the equaliser with great timing.
The second-half saw Torquay have most of the possession but for all their domination they failed to capitalise as Wrexham refused to buckle under the pressure. A surprise change saw Whalley, who had been having a fine game, replaced by Louis.
With quarter of an hour to go Baynes replaced Marc Williams though by now the quality of the play from both sides had deteriorated. Torquay ran out of ideas and Wrexham seemed to run out of steam, accepting a point as a good result considering the unsettling circumstances.
There was a nasty conclusion to the game when a terrible challenge by Tyrone Thompson left Simon Spender floored. Stretchered off, requiring oxygen and an ambulance, Spender has a dislocated elbow.
Ironically ‘Spends’ had been back to his fully committed best; solid at right-back, overlapping well, and covering at centre-back on numerous occasions making last-ditch interceptions and goal-line clearances.
‘Man of the Match’ was deservedly handed to Marc Williams. His effort, forward play, non-stop running and closing down were superb. Simon Brown was another contender after his best game in a Wrexham shirt, and for all their mistakes, Smith and Mackin were a more effective and mobile midfield than we’d had in previous weeks.
It was a well-earned point (especially considering the backdrop to the game), and one few of us could have hoped for after the abysmal showing at home to Rushden. With Little now gone we can hopefully move on for the better. There is a lot of pressure on Geoff Moss to handle the appointment of the next man very carefully…
In the meantime, we’re off to Forest Green….
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