Wrexham vs Luton Town FC (13th Sep 2013)

WREXHAM 2-0 TOWN

Ten-man Town slipped to only their second defeat of the season as they went down 2-0 at the Racecourse in front of the BT Sport cameras.

Back-post efforts in either half from the Red Dragons’ Andy Bishop and Joe Clarke inflicted yet another defeat for the Hatters in this corner of North Wales.

The Town have now lost 15 of their 23 visits to the Racecourse, and their misery was completed 10 minutes before the end when substitute Alex Wall was shown a straight red card for stamping Wrexham captain Neil Ashton.

It all began after some early pressure from the hosts, but the Hatters – showing two changes to the side that drew with Grimsby, with Shaun Whalley and Mark Cullen given starts in the place of Alex Lacey and Andre Gray – had the best of the openings of a frustrating first half.

Jonathan Smith warmed the gloves of Wrexham goalkeeper Joslain Mayebi on seven minutes after a flowing Town move had opened up the home defence.

As the Hatters searched for the lead, they had the ball in the Dragons’ net 11 minutes later, but Cullen’s deft finish – having read Paul Benson’s flick-on – was ruled out for offside.

Clear-cut chances were at a real premium for either side, but three minutes after Cullen’s disallowed strike, Wrexham were ahead. The Town allowed Ashton to arch a dangerous left-wing cross to the back-post where Bishop was on hand to finish well past an exposed Mark Tyler.

Hurt by going behind, the Hatters responded. Smith rifled a shot into the arms of Mayebi on 28 minutes and, after Tyler had held an ambitious effort from David Artell on 35 minutes, the Town ended the first 45 minutes on top.

A lovely one-touch move on 39 minutes saw Jake Howells unceremoniously barged off the ball on the edge of the box and Whalley wasn’t far away from finding the target with a right-foot free-kick that whistled just over the crossbar.

A minute later Benson almost sniffed out a chance from nothing when reacting to a terrible back-pass from Stephen Wright that sold Mayebi short. However, the goalkeeper did well to snuff out the striker’s effort inside the six-yard box and spare Wright’s blushes.

The final chance of the half came after more good football from the Town. Howells broke forward down the left and threaded a pass through to Cullen unmarked in the hosts’ penalty area but, after taking one touch, the striker’s effort was smothered by Mayebi.

The Hatters pressure continued after the restart. A right-wing corner from Howells was half-cleared to Smith on the edge of the box and the midfielder’s low shot was blocked as it the ball hurtled towards goal.

Three minute later Whalley’s right-wing cross found Cullen in space in the penalty area but his header was off way off target from distance.

However, following that chance the Hatters’ evening took a turn for the worse on 55 minutes. Wrexham had been threatening with a spell of pressure and they doubled their lead when Clarke rose at the back-post following another deep cross from the opposite flank.

Two goals down and a mountain to climb, John Still made a double substitution shortly after the hour, introducing Alex Lawless, for his first appearance of the season, and Wall, for Whalley and Cullen respectively.

The Hatters huffed and puffed as they went in search of a way back into the game but there efforts were made even tougher 10 minutes from time when substitute Wall was sent-off for a stamp on home defender Ashton.

A man down and two goals behind the Town were finding it increasingly difficult to carve out a decent opportunity.

Wrexham came close to a third in the closing stages but in the end the hosts comfortably held on to their two-goal advantage.

WREXHAM: Mayebi, Wright (sub Ntame 46), Ashton, Clarke, Harris, Bishop, Ormerod, Tomassen, Hunt, Bailey-Jones, Artell. Subs not used: Coughlin, Morrell, Carrington.

TOWN: Tyler; Henry, Griffiths, McNulty, Parry; Howells (sub Gray 72), Whalley (sub Lawless 61), Smith, Guttridge, Cullen (sub Wall 61), Benson. Subs not used: Justham, Stevenson.

ATTENDANCE: 3,122 including 190 from the Town.

Town boss John Still admitted his picked the wrong team in a performance that had “no positives” at Wrexham on Friday night.

“The best team won, playing quick, smart, move the ball football,” he said after the 2-0 defeat.

“We never really got into that and I think I picked the wrong team, I actually do.

“It’s easy with hindsight, but having said that we never played well enough.

“If I’d have picked the other team we might not have played well enough, but I’ve got no complaints with the result at all, none at all.

“I’m the manager, so it’s my responsibility. I pick them, I train them, I coach them, we haven’t played well, so I don’t take away from the responsibility of that at all.”

The manager was naturally disappointed with the individual displays of his players.

“We’ve done an enormous amount of work on the training ground on deliveries, balls into the box, it’s been the backbone of our work,” he said.

“But our crossing was awful, absolutely awful. They attacked off our crossing, we never got it past the first man, it was an awful performance.

“We’ve got an guy there, Paul (Benson), who’s capable of scoring 30 goals but he needs the service and the crossing was poor.

“Every time we got into the final third, we were too long delivering and when we did deliver, I think Shaun (Whalley) hit one great cross in second half, but I can’t remember another good one.

“We had a free kick wide on the right in the first half that we took and hit the first defender. The ball came back and we over-hit the cross.

“It’s frustrating because we work so hard and to be fair to the players they work their socks off in training but are not producing it in games.

“You can not play great at times but put a good ball in the right area at the right time and if you’ve got people who can score goals, you can come away from games you haven’t done well, but winning 1-0.

“We never gave ourselves the opportunity to score goals.”

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Ten-man Town turn in Friday 13th horror show as they fall to Wrexham defeat

Skrill Premier: Wrexham 2 (1) Luton Town 0 (0)

Ten-man Town imploded as they went down 2-0 at promotion rivals Wrexham in front of the BT Sports cameras at the Racecourse Ground this evening, writes Mark Wood.

Goals in each half from Andy Bishop and Johnny Hunt sunk the Hatters whose miserable evening was compounded late in the second half when wreckless substitute Alex Wall was sent off for an idiotic stamp on Neil Ashton to complete their Friday 13th horror show.

Town made two changes from the team that was held to a goalless draw by Grimsby Town at Kenilworth Road last weekend. Striker Andre Gray dropped to bench while injured defender Alex Lacey missed out with a twisted ankle as Shaun Whalley and Mark Cullen came into Luton’s starting XI.

A slick surface saw both teams slip over early on and, although the hosts started the better, Luton did threaten as Jonathan Smith saw a low drive blocked on the edge of the area.

The Hatters had the ball in the net on 18 minutes when Paul Benson flicked on Mark Tyler’s long clearance for the onrushing Cullen to lift the ball past Joslain Mayebi, only for the linesman’s flag to rule it out.

Instead it was Wrexham who snatched the lead three minutes later when left-back Ashton overlapped and whipped in a terrific cross to the back post for the predatory Bishop to volley home.

It was the first time in 408 minutes that Luton’s defence had been breached, but the Hatters refused to be cowed as a swift breakout ended in Smith firing straight at the keeper from the edge of the area on 28 minutes.

The Hatters were offering little going forward and it was returning Wrexham centre-half David Artell who had the next shy at goal as he curled comfortably into Tyler’s midriff on 35 minutes.

Steve Tomassen was booked for a wild lunge on Cullen before Artell gave away a free-kick on the edge of the area for tripping Jake Howells as he looked to surge into the box after some next interplay, but Whalley’s drive from the resulting set-piece flew a yard over the bar.

Luton were starting to come into the contest more and a dreadful backpass by Stephen Wright allowed Paul Benson to nip in but Mayebi smothered well at his feet.

More good work by Howells then saw him slip Cullen in but his shot was too close to Mayebi as Jay Harris dragged harmlessly wide at the other end.

Town though were unable to find a way through as the Red Dragons led 1-0 at the break, meaning the Hatters are still yet to score in the first half this season after eight games.

Energetic Luton made a lively start to the second half as Cullen sent a header wastefully wide six minutes in following a jinking run and cross from Whalley.

At the other end Tomassen and Harris had shots deflected wide before Joe Clarke rose highest at the far post to thump his header against the upright on 55 minutes.

Unperturbed Town had great shouts for a penalty waved away moments later when Whalley floated a superb pass into the path of Luke Guttridge and he went down in a tangle in the box with the already booked Tomassen, but the referee waved away any question of a foul.

And Luton were made to pay a heavy price as Wrexham doubled their lead on 58 minutes. Whalley failed to react to the loose ball as Theo Bailey-Jones crossed to the back post and Brett Ormerod’s header back across goal was forced home from close range by Hunt as the Racecourse Ground erupted.

Town moved swiftly, introducing Wall and Alex Lawless in place of Cullen and Whalley before Smith was booked for one foul to many as he caught Ashton.

Ormerod fired well over for the hosts before Gray replaced Howells and Wrexham replaced the evening’s tormentor Bailey-Jones with long-term nemesis Adrian Cieslewicz.

And Cieslewicz almost had an instant impact as he raced on to a through ball on 75 minutes but Andy Parry recovered with a great sliding tackle.

Town captain Ronnie Henry was then booked with 12 minutes to go when his cynical sliding challenge took out Cieslewicz on the halfway line as he looked to break at pace.

And things went from bad to worse for Luton on 80 minutes when Wall’s high boot seemed to catch Ashton and the raw striker then seemed to stamp on the prostrate full-back as referee Darren Handley raced over to brandish the red card.

Parry then followed him into the book as he was yellow-carded for a late tackle as Town threatened to implode in the closing stages.

Junior Ntame flashed a header over for the hosts a minute from normal time as five extra minutes were addea. A Cieslewicz cross almost led to a third as Tyler fumbled in stoppage time and, although Town cleared the danger, the damage had already been done on another bleak night for the Hatters.

Red Dragons (4-3-3): Joslain Mayebi, Stephen Wright (Junior Ntame 46), Neil Ashton (C), Joe Clarke, Jay Harris, Andy Bishop, Brett Ormerod, Steve Tomassen, Johnny Hunt, Theo Bailey-Jones (Adrian Cieslewicz 72), David Artell. Substitutes not used: Andy Coughlin, Andy Morrell, Mark Carrington.

Hatters (4-4-2): Mark Tyler, Jonathan Smith, Steve McNulty, Jake Howells (Andre Gray 72), Scott Griffiths, Mark Cullen (Alex Wall 61), Andrew Parry, Luke Guttridge, Shaun Whalley (Alex Lawless 61), Ronnie Henry (C), Paul Benson. Substitutes not used: Elliot Justham, James Stevenson.

Booked: Tomassen 37; Smith 62; Henry 78; Parry 83.

Sent Off: Wall 80.

Referee: Darren Handley Assistant Referees: Nik Barnard and Barry Lamb Fourth Official: Ryan Johnson.

Attendance: 3,122 (Luton 190).

Star Hatter: Andy Parry. Decent showing from the youngster who stuck to his task well.

Still takes blame for picking wrong team at Wrexham

Town boss John Still admitted he picked the wrong team as Luton went down to a hugely disappointing defeat in Wrexham yesterday evening, writes Mike Simmonds.

With Alex Lacey out injured, Still opted to drop Andy Parry back into defence, reverting to a 4-4-2 formation as Mark Cullen came in for Andre Gray.

However, Luton never achieved the kind of dominant display that had seen them win 2-0 at Kidderminster Harriers recently, as Still said: “The best team won, playing quick, smart, move the ball football.

“We never really got into that and I think I picked the wrong team, I actually do.

“It’s easy with hindsight, but having said that we never played well enough.

“If I’d have picked the other team we might not have played well enough, but I’ve got no complaints with the result at all, none at all.

I’m the manager, so it’s my responsiblility. I pick them, I train them, I coach them, we haven’t played well, so I don’t take away from the responsibilty of that at all.”

Town drew yet another blank, their fifth in eight games this season, as they have netted just five times all campaign, including only one from open play.

Hatters got into plenty of advanced positions at the Racecourse Ground, but yet again, their delivery into the box was poor all evening, with home keeper Joslain Mayebi barely tested.

Still continued: “We’ve done an enormous amout of work on the training ground on deliveries, balls into the box, it’s been the backbone of our work.

“Our crossing was awful, absolutely awful. They attacked off our crossing, we never got it past the first man, it was an awful performance.

“We’ve got an guy there, Paul (Benson), who’s capable of scoring 30 goals but he needs the service and the crossing was poor.

“Every time we got into the final third, we were too long delivering and when we did deliver, I think Shaun (Whalley) hit one great cross in second half, but I can’t remember another good one.

“We had a free kick wide on the right in the first half that we took and hit the first defender. The ball came back and we overhit the cross.

“It’s frustrating because we work so hard and to be fair to the players they work their socks off in training but are not producing it in games.

“You can not play great at times but put a good ball in the right area at the right time and if you’ve got people who can score goals, you can come away from games you haven’t done well, but winning 1-0.

“We never gave ourselves the opportunity to score goals.

Hatters’ defence had kept three clean successive sheets and not been breached in 408 minutes, but conceded two disappointing goals, with Still highlighting left back Scott Griffiths at fault on both occasions.

He said: “The first goal, Scott’s position was wrong. His body was closed and it wasn’t one of those big high balls.

“The second one he didn’t jump. He got beat twice on the back post and Scott’s got to do better than that.”