Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeA
..joining three other former adversaries: Telford, Southport and Stalybridge.
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Of all these, Telford are probably the ones we'll soonest reaquaint ourselves with, they have the support to easily sustain a Fourth Division squad and a set-up to match. I met a Telford fan in the pub before the highly forgettable game at Shrewsbury earlier this season, he claimed they were pulling in 2,000 gates and were definitely on the way up again.
It was an enjoyable game yesterday, and though we played well, Wrexham were very poor indeed. The encouraging thing for me was the performance of the two young lads at the back, Peter Murphy especially, who was given the responsibility in the second-half to be the last man at the back and he won most of the one-on-ones in the air. Both he and Jay Bell are big lads and they stood up well to the Wrexham forwards. Coley and Jimmy are doing the right thing by letting these lads have a go. Bell seemed to be right-back, with Cav in right midfield, and Cav was alert to the need to fill in when Jay was dragged into the centre. The two of them down the right seemed to work well, but again Wrexham offered little resistance. We'll have to see how they get on against more combative opposition, but Murphy is a possible for next season.
Two other things. We know that Bobby Grant is a fine prospect, and this isn't to put the boot in, but I thought yesterday offered him the opportunity to really have a go doing what, presumably, he is in the team for, which is to take on the full-back and/or sling in dangerous crosses for Mullin. But Bobby isn't quite doing either at the moment. He seems to drift into the central midfield battle, a sign perhaps that he feels this is the only way he's going to see the ball. But this leaves Mullin bereft of decent balls into the box for him to attack. When was the last time we saw Mullers given a series of crosses to really steam on to? I'd love to see Bobby emerge as a regular next season, but at the moment he's not a Gary Roberts type who can be left alone to beat the defender and whip the ball over. He needs more support.
And certain players also need to remember they are professionals. Yesterday, Craney turned his man beautifully and set off with acres of space in front of him, only to be pulled up by the ref. Poor decision, yes, but Craney was still bleating about it five minutes later and ended up in the book. Edwards was also very fortunate to get away with raising his hands to a Wrexham player. In a match that was petering out with three points in the bag, what precisely did Edwards think this would achieve? It's something he should contemplate while he's topping up his tan.