City kicked off the game and could have scored the quickest goal of the season when Keates played Green through on the right before the returning striker crossed the ball where Jeff Hughes controlled the ball, however, he allowed it to run out of play and despite not scoring, it was just the start the Imps had been looking for, however, Wrexham started to enforce themselves on the game. Gareth McAuley twiced cleared from the corner and eventually, Mayo put it out for a throw in, however, doing that he injured his hamstring and he was substituted minutes later and Nat Brown came on, all of a sudden, City were playing 4-4-2 for the first time under Keith Alexander.
Scott Kerr produced a typically poor delivery from a corner despite the falling snow, he had no excuse for yet another set-piece going wrong. The snow was making it a little difficult for either team to create chances although the home side were defiantly on top but it took until the 17th minute when Mark Jones produced a penetrating run before unleashing a shot which went fairly wide to say the least.
City’s first realistic chance on goal came when Green again broke down the right before producing a shot from Yeo which forced a brilliant save from Ingham however, Marriott produced an equally good save from Dean Bennett when the former Kidderminster man shot low and hard at the goal.
Kerr actually produced a decent ball from a corner for once but Gareth McAuley’s header went straight at Ingham but Yeo should defiantly have opened the scoring just after the half hour mark when Trinidad and Tobago defender, Dennis Lawrence passed the ball to Yeo but the striker failed to score from 6 yards and his shot went just wide of the post. However, if
However, Yeo wasn’t the only player to miss from 6 yards as just before half time, Hughes’ clearance hit former Bolton player, Jon Walters and the striker ran towards goal but his attempt from 6 yards didn’t even go close to the goal, let alone challenge Marriott. This game was following the trend of the other games against Wrexham in Keith’s second spell, it was goalless at half time.
It was a slow start to the second half and took 10 minutes for the first action to take place and this came when Yeo ran towards goal and was 25 yards out, however, instead of shooting, he passed to Green who sent his shot from an offside position straight at Ingham. Yeo was at it again soon afterwards but did take a shot this time when he shot on the volley with the outside of his foot from 25 yards but it went just wide of the post. However, it wouldn’t be long until Yeo would open his account since rejoining the Imps.
Green picked up the ball in midfield and ran to the right before putting in a cross and it missed several players before rolling into the path of Yeo. With Ingham standing perfectly still, Yeo had the simple task of tapping the ball into the net although it was defiantly a mistake for Ingham as he could have picked up the ball a long time before he got a chance to score….however, who cares? Scott Kerr almost doubled the advantage within a minute but he free kick was tipped over the bar by Ingham, again the keeper should have done much better,
Denis Smith made his first substitutions of the match when Foy and Reed replaced Bennett and Cromwell. McAuley and McCombe were proving the saving grace for City as Wrexham had numerous chances thwarted by the two tall defenders and both did enough to force Darren Ferguson to place a free kick straight into Marriott’s hands rather than smashing it. Foster and Cryan soon stopped Holt and Jones.
Ollie Ryan and Gary Birch came on for Yeo and Green and soon enough, Birch, like he had been doing all season, produced excellent work and set up Ryan for a chance. Birch ran down the left hand wing but seemed to have lost the ball but Birch chased the ball and won it from the Wrexham defender before running along the goal line, passing it to Ryan who simply side footed it straight at Ingham and Birch’s persistence definitely deserved more than Ryan’s poor finish.
Then with less than a minute to go, the defence was yet again responsible for 2 more points lost as not a single defender even tried to win the ball off either Holt or Jones and the latter shot with his right foot from 10 yards to give Wrexham a very undeserved 3 points.
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