Wrexham: March 2012

Hello friends and a Happy New Year to you all.

Our opening game of March was at Port Vale who were struggling in the lower half of the table. Oliver Nicholas headed us into the lead early on from a free kick floated into the box by Fofana who himself added the second goal hitting a lovely strike from a Williams through ball. The third goal was a well taken effort by Nzuzi who swept the ball into the net from an Alex Smith cross and by the interval we were coasting along with a three goal lead. Disappointingly we could not add any more goals and Port Vale did manage a consolation effort though they never provided us any real trouble in front of goal.

Next up was a trip to Luton which marked my 100^th game in charge of The Red Dragons. After a very lack luster first half I decided by the hour mark that things needed changing up front but when preparing Jarvis to come on two of my back four were exhausted and Gilmour was struggling in midfield. So I had to make a triple substitution in the 65^th minute. Seeing Jarvis stay on the bench ignited Baheng and he gave us the lead from a Smith cross ten minutes later but soon after Luton equalized from the spot and McArdle was sent off. Down to ten men and Luton put on the pressure but they came forward too much and a clearance by Rooney found Fofana who sprinted forward and placed the ball neatly in the net in injury time to give us an unexpected win on the landmark occasion.

The following game was at home to Dagenham and a goal early on by Jacob Walcott from a Gilmour through ball set the the tone for the rest of the game. Francis Laurent added a second on a rare start for him in similar fashion to the first and that would be enough for a solid overall performance and secure a play off spot.

It was time for our encounter with Stockport County and a good crowd of nearly 7,000 showed up at The Racecourse Ground. We got off to a positive start with Laurent getting a chance within the first 30 seconds and that was followed by two others from Fofana and Alex Smith. By the interval though the game was still goalless and Stockport as expected had created enough chances of their own. I spoke to Fofana, and Gilmour and told them at half time they “could make a real difference “ and sure enough a Gilmour through ball to Fonana gave us the lead in the 50^th minute. A failure to clear a corner put Stockport back on level terms and as the game was coming to a close poor control by a Stockport defender was instantly snapped up by Fofana and he had the ball in the back of the net just like that for a last minute win.

We travelled to Gigg Lane for our next match against Bury with an unchanged eleven except for McArdle who was returning from suspension. Skipper Brian Gilmour picked up an injury early on and his replacement Nathan Rooney was instrumental in setting up two first half goals for Laurent and Fofana and once again we conceded a goal from a set piece. The second half we very much controlled and some trickery by Laurent created a chance for Fofana to get his second of the game and put the match beyond doubt  10 minutes from the end.

After 5 wins in a row we had one hand on the title as we played Aldershot and put in a very nervous performance. Gone was the running at defence and the telling through balls but somehow we managed to keep going and a scorcher of a shot from Nzuzi late in the game gave us a very undeserved point.

League Table

With 5 wins in a row we extended our lead at the top and now only need four points from our last 5 games to clinch the title which would be remarkable as our early season expectations was to avoid relegation.

Fixtures

Three of our last 5 games are against teams looking for promotion so winning the title outright may prove to be a difficult challenge!

Top 5 Players

Ismael Fofana leads the way with a rating of 7.30 and based on his stats he’s always in and around the action.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to bringing you the season finale report.