It was a great game apart from Kavanagh and Earnshaw who were not included, (Daniel Gabbidon on the bench), it was a bloody strong Cardiff side that played against us at the Racecourse.

Crowd just over 1,600 i think it was, its a shame there wasn't more people coming to watch us but what do you expect with Chelsea against Arsenal being on and us being on BBC Wales, but there was a good atmosphere never the less and it didn't feel like there was just 1,600 there.

We had that 'never say die' attitude which pleased me as the team they had against us, albeit without top scorer Robert Earnshaw, this was a division 1 side we were playing, and we matched them.

The only thing that dissapointed me was the fact that we conceded not long after getting the equaliser from Chris Llewellyn.

Steven Thomas had another good game.

And another thing that pleased me, we coped without Darren Ferguson and Brian Carey at the helm, Dennis Lawrence was absolutely brilliant in the way he played second half.
 

I know we didn't score the most superb of goals but we did deserve at least one goal, we applied a lot of pressure but i felt we just wern't going to break the Cardiff defence down.
 

My initial thought was that the ref would have gave the free-kick when Dennis Lawrence went up for the header which followed up with Llewellyn scoring the all important equaliser.

Sloppy goal to concede for the second but we didn't let that fade us and Lee Jones surprisingly made a difference to the game, maybe it was just a pair of fresh legs we needed to change the game, thought the cross was too high but Armstrong was there to head home to make it go onto extra time!

Crowell and Llewellyn will be happy as they are from the Swansea area, good penalties from all that took them, that's good to see if were every short of a kick taker or two in the league!

Dennis Lawrence, cool as you like, amazing!
Carlos Edwards, a breath of fresh air to the side.


I pray we don't lose these two at the end of the season as they are crucial to the side improving.

I bet Langley wasn't too happy after Roberts penalty went in considering he was all for coming over to the Sainsburys Stand doing the 'Ayotola' or how ever you spell it, we had the last laugh and all importantly, the hardcore fans who came out to watch this on a bloody cold evening! were yet again rewarded with a great result.

Probably some came to the game that don't usually come to league fixtures as it was Cardiff the opponents, fingers crossed they'll be back for the next home game.

I'm off to Rhyl to see them hopefully beat Swansea in April.

Keep the faith.

_______

My review on Cardiff - They had a strong side out considering, but I don't know who's the best and who's what as I don't know much about the Cardiff players, they missed Earnshaw (obviously), and Gabs was on the bench, but they are for sure a match for Wrexham, it was always going to be a hard game for us after seeing the players that they were going to pick.

The two Wrexham goals were poor I thought but at least they went in and I felt we deserved a goal.

Wrexham's penalty shoot out hero Stephen Roberts has spoken to the Evening Leader, he said "Basically, it was head down - and hit it as hard as I could! I've never taken a penalty in my life. I was just so relieved to see it go in. The way the penalties were going in, I thought it was going to last all night!
“I thought we deserved it. We were down to 10 men and, as you say, we're playing a first division side. They're a good team, no matter who they have in their side. I see no reason now why we cant go on from here and possibly get into the play-offs.
"We have proved tonight we are a good team and there's absolutely no reason why we cant keep it going."

Pleased Wrexham manager Denis Smith and his players were given a standing ovation at the end as they came out on top against there South Walian counter-parts.
Smith said to the Evening Leader: "I thought it was an excellent performance. We came back when all seemed lost and we are down to 10 men in extra-time. Those who missed the game were the losers. That´s as good as entertainment as you´re going to get."
"As far as the club are concerned, this is a massive win, financially. That sort of money will be a god-send to us."
 

Armstrong, Carlos Edwards, Lee Jones, Thomas, Matty Crowell and Lawrence all converted their spot-kicks. Loan goalkeeper Mike Ingham, from Sunderland, then kept out Tony Vidmar´s penalty and up stepped Roberts to hit the ball in the net to put pound signs in the eyes of Mark Guterman.

The final will be against either the Swans or Rhyl, the game is to be played on the 7th of April.

Keep the faith Wrexham fans.