Wrexham 1-1 Blues: A Point Well Earned

Since our last report, Blues have continued our form through two cups and the league, and went into arguably the toughest away game of the season 14 games unbeaten.

Since our last report, Blues have continued our form through two cups and the league, and went into arguably the toughest away game of the season 14 games unbeaten.

Lincoln were the first visitors to St Andrews in front of a reduced crowd for the FA Cup 3rd Round. Blues featured a heavily rotated side following an intense schedule, and a Dykes worldie resulted in passage to the 4th round, where Blues will now host Premier League side Newcastle in a couple of weeks. A trip to Swindon followed in the Vertu Trophy Round of 16, with a similarly rotated 11 securing back to back 2-1 victories; this time in the dying seconds from a Cochrane corner, setting us up for an away trip to Stevenage in the Quarter Final. We returned to league action to host Exeter, and came out 1-0 winners at St Andrews in a game that will not live long in the memory, courtesy of Ethan Laird’s first goal in Royal Blue.

Our next trip took us to Wrexham, who boast the best home record in League One – 9 points ahead of Blues,  but with 3 further games played. The Welsh side are the only other undefeated team at home in League One this season, and have turned the Racecourse into a fortress throughout their climbing of the football league since their Hollywood takeover.

It would be a tough test for Blues. Nobody can knock our results, but recent games have featured narrow scorelines, and although it’s a good sign that we’re not losing when suffering from poor form, questions have been raised about the performance levels of the side. And Davies has had to contend with numerous injuries picked up throughout the festive period. Paik and Iwata, ever present with their high quality, haven’t been seen in the matchday squad since our 3-0 victory over Wigan due to injury. Willumsson is also on the sideline, meaning we’ve missed our starting 3 midfielders. Hansson, Buchanan and Anderson are also out, although the latter returned to the bench for our trip to north Wales.

Davies lined up in his typical 4-2-3-1 shape, featuring Allsop, Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane, Leonard, Gardner-Hickman, Wright, Dykes, Stansfield and May.

The game started with intensity, as both sides rose to the occasion hyped up by the media. But it was Wrexham who would take the lead early, as they did in the reverse fixture. Ollie Palmer challenged Gardner-Hickman just inside the Blues third, which the referee deemed fair, and Rathbone came away with it. He ran into the space left by our midfield pairing following the tackle and struck early, with a lovely curling effort which beat Allsop at his far post. Credit where credit is due – it was a great strike.

Blues responded well, settling into our rhythm on the ball and playing at a decent tempo. There were a couple of penalty shouts for Blues in the first half, including numerous handball claims and a push on Gardner-Hickman – but none were given, and none were stonewall in my opinion. We picked up several corners, and they were mostly aimed at the far post with one player peeling away from the crowd. This tactic would return dividends on the 19th minute, when Dykes met the ball with a free header and it deflected off the back of Dobson and into his own net to bring Blues level.

We dominated possession for the rest of the half, but were unable to break down the league’s 2nd best defence to create a chance. Wrexham had a late free kick seconds before half time which fell for Rathbone, but he couldn’t direct his shot on target.

Half time: Wrexham 1-1 Blues (Dykes?)

The second half would start in similar vein to how the first did, with both sides battling to wrestle control of the game for the first 20 minutes. Scott Wright was replaced by Keshi Anderson, returning from his injury on the 65th minute. He would have an immediate impact after being introduced, flashing a low ball across to Alfie May who couldn’t sort his feet out in time to convert.

But in rare fashion this season, it was our opponents Wrexham who won the battle for control of the 2nd half. They had pot shots from distance and cross-shots which Allsop had to be alert for, and then on the 70th minute introduced Steven Fletcher and Paul Mullins to give the Blues defence fresh legs to contend with for the final 20 minutes.

McClean went close from a corner delivered to the near post which Allsop scrambled away, Fletcher found himself in space from a wide free kick and forced Allsop into another save before Gardner-Hickman scrambled away, and Fletcher again picked the ball up just inside the Blues third but couldn’t fashion a chance past Klarer and Davies.

The second half from 65-70 minutes onwards was full of Wrexham pressure. Balls into the box from wide positions and set pieces were headed away by a strong Blues backline, and long shots were dealt with by Allsop, but we failed to regain control and couldn’t get out and hit Wrexham on the counter with regularity.

Our best chance of the half came from Gardner-Hickman, driving forwards from midfield straight at the heart of the Wrexham defence, but his shot was dragged wide. He might’ve been better playing in Anderson in space on the right – but hindsight is 20/20.

Wrexham have a propensity to score late goals, particularly at home, so the final minutes were nervy. But Blues held on and dug in, seeing out the final minutes and securing a point on the road. It was certainly the sort of game you don’t want to lose, and despite not being at our best, we showed character and fight to defend our box and come away with something, and extend our unbeaten run to 15 games across all competitions.

Blues were forced into fielding a weaker side in midfield and had both Scott Wright and Jay Stansfield not looking at their best following returns from injury. Our next game won’t be much easier either, with a trip to Huddersfield coming next Tuesday. The Terriers are on a great run themselves, 16 games unbeaten in league football since being defeated at St Andrews in early October. They have been bolstered with January additions to their strike force, in the form of £3m man Joe Taylor from Luton and Dion Charles from promotion rivals Bolton. Michael Helik has gone the other way to Oxford, and will be missed at the back, but Huddersfield will fancy their chances at home.

Credit to Wrexham for their performance in the 2nd half, certainly if you were to pick a winner in the dying moments it would’ve been the hosts. But we take a point and move on, looking to keep our run intact as we move into February.

Keep Right On.

Full time: Wrexham 1-1 Blues (Dykes?)

Ratings

Starting XI

Ryan Allsop: 7

Ryan was called into action more often than he might be used to, and stepped up to the call. Most of his saves were comfortable, bar one header from McClean from a corner which he did really well to get across to.

Ethan Laird: 7

Ethan had a solid game defensively, but he was often pinned back by Wrexham pressure and so didn't have the impact in the final third that he might be getting used to. Nevertheless, he was part of a strong Blues defence on the day.

Christoph Klarer: 8 - Man of the Match

Klarer was an absolute brick wall, and gets my man of the match just ahead of a couple others. In a game where we had to dig deep and defend our box like our lives depended on it, Klarer took captaincy, shied away from nothing and lead by example, dragging his side to a well earned point.

Ben Davies: 8

Davies' anticipation to cut out Wrexham's final balls was superb, and was only closely beaten by Klarer to man of the match. The pair were formidable, and Davies showed equal commitment and composure in his defensive efforts.

Alex Cochrane: 7

Cochrane was the final piece of the strong defence. He, like Laird, didn't have a massive impact going forwards, but stood up strong and employed good game management to win free kicks and relieve pressure throughout the game.

Marc Leonard: 6

Leonard looked tidy in the first half, but was part of a midfield unit that struggled to regain control from Wrexham in the second. He was solid, and I think he's been good since coming into the starting 11, but I did find myself missing Paik and Iwata's quality. That's no slight on Marc - those two are exceptional in what they do for us.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman: 8

Taylor is my third and final man that I think had a very good game and could be in man of the match contention. He was everywhere, full of energy, drive and commitment. He had an opportunity late on to potentially steal 3 points, but decided to shoot after his positive run and a poor shot threw away the opportunity. Regardless, another great game from our go-to utility man.

Scott Wright: 6

Scott has struggled for form since his long injury lay-off, and although he looked a bit brighter and fitter today, he still struggled to create chances and beat his man on a regular basis. Not a poor performance, but there's definitely more to come from Wright.

Lyndon Dykes: 7

Lyndon started in the number 10 role again, and had a solid game. Against a side who make every game a scrap, he used his physicality well and was decent at linking the play, albeit it's evidently not his strongest attribute. He was credited with the goal and his movement in the box was excellent to get into space and nod back across goal. I think this was his best league performance in a Blues shirt. Maybe that goal of the 3rd round gave him a much needed confidence boost.

Jay Stansfield: 5

Jay is returning from an injury and I think Davies might still be trying to figure out how to get the best out of him, and it showed. He was rarely involved in the game, and when he was, he wasn't effective. He worked hard, on and off the ball which was important with Wrexham pushing on, but didn't do enough in the final third and attacks broke down through him more often than they should.

Alfie May: 6

Alfie always works hard, but he really ran his legs into the ground tonight. He tirelessly pressed the Wrexham defence, even after he became afflicted by cramp mid-way through the second half. The only chance which came his way was delivered by Keshi Anderson shortly after coming on, but the pace of the ball and the bodies it came through meant he couldn't make a good connection with the ball.

Subs

Keshi Anderson: 7

Despite this being his return from injury, Keshi looked sharp and his impact was instant, as he took on his man and pulled a ball back across to May which wasn't converted. We've sorely missed him in his absence, and I hope he can get fit enough to start sooner rather than later as he caused Wrexham problems in the second half.

Lukas Jutkiewicz: 6

Jutkiewicz came on in the last 10 minutes for May and helped Blues see out the game defensively - although his impact offensively was non-existent as Blues were under the cosh. I felt his sub meant we were actively trying to see the game out for a point, as I couldn't see us hitting Wrexham on the counter with Jukey leading the line.

Krystian Bielik: N/A

Bielik came on for Stansfield in the last few minutes, taking up Gardner-Hickman's midfield role with Taylor switching to the left hand side. His physicality and composure helped us in securing a valuable point.
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