VNL#12 vs. Wrexham (match-thread)

[surreyu]

Superb all around, just a complete joy to watch. Could easily have handed out 11 bottles of man of the match champagne, huge well done.

[markf]

That was terrific. A great way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon.

I said to kbb (ask him about his bet) that Wrexham would provide a different challenge to Boreham Wood and U's rose to it with an excellent display of pass and movement.

Dos made changes and without the temptation to bang it up to a target man, the team relied on an industrious midfield supported by two superb performances from the two full-backs. I should hasten to add this is not a dig at Ross L; it's not his fault we tend to go longer when he is playing. With Nicky B splaying the ball around from his central pivot role and Craig E bursting forward as a result, Wrexham struggled to cope and even more so after the red card. Wayne Brown was like a Duracell Bunny in fact he played like he had swallowed a warehouse full of the batteries such was his work rate.

Up front Tommy W pulled their defence everywhere accompanied by the wing play of Jonah and KC.

To be fair, Wrexham was marginally the more threatening in the first 15 mins but never troubled Jamie B.

The penalty. I will have to watch the highlights but I assumed their guy grabbed hold of Cloughie after being warned and skip did what he generally does from the spot, plant the ball in one of the corners. I actually thought we had a shout for a more obvious penalty when their 'keeper seemed to bundle Jonah over as he chased the ball. Cloughie was later pulled up for a similar challenge in the second half. By then, U's were 2-0 up and a man to the good. Firstly Aswad's cross caused confusion and the ball fell to KC who scored with a deft, improvised, finish.

The red card. It was another skip at Aldershot thing. No malice - just done by a lovely bit of skill by Jonah - but if studs were shown and it was high enough, well? Watching MotD last night a Fulham player and a Cardiff player both got away with yellows for far worse challenges. I doubt Wrexham will have given the ref the 7 he got in the NLP but that's hardly surprising.

The second half we started a little sloppily but Dale B got down the right, delivered and Craig E timed his run to perfection to head home a decisive third. It was game management from then on and U's did it well, restricting Wrexham to very few sights of goal while continuing to threaten to score themselves. The visiting 'keeper made two fine saves; the first from a Nick B left foot shot that was heading for the top corner and point blank from Aaron Drinan.

A great afternoon on the 3G that always plays better when the heavens have opened. A couple of dissenting voices about the surface have been shouted down on the Wrexham forum and we should congratulate their fans on a fine showing.

On to struggling Dover. They are meant to be another big side like Boreham Wood and we take them lightly in our peril.

[os]

Sept 23, 2018 13:53:47 GMT markf said:

That was terrific. A great way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon.

I said to kbb (ask him about his bet) that Wrexham would provide a different challenge to Boreham Wood and U's rose to it with an excellent display of pass and movement.

Dos made changes and without the temptation to bang it up to a target man, the team relied on an industrious midfield supported by two superb performances from the two full-backs. I should hasten to add this is not a dig at Ross L; it's not his fault we tend to go longer when he is playing. With Nicky B splaying the ball around from his central pivot role and Craig E bursting forward as a result, Wrexham struggled to cope and even more so after the red card. Wayne Brown was like a Duracell Bunny in fact he played like he had swallowed a warehouse full of the batteries such was his work rate.

Up front Tommy W pulled their defence everywhere accompanied by the wing play of Jonah and KC.

To be fair, Wrexham was marginally the more threatening in the first 15 mins but never troubled Jamie B.

The penalty. I will have to watch the highlights but I assumed their guy grabbed hold of Cloughie after being warned and skip did what he generally does from the spot, plant the ball in one of the corners. I actually thought we had a shout for a more obvious penalty when their 'keeper seemed to bundle Jonah over as he chased the ball. Cloughie was later pulled up for a similar challenge in the second half. By then, U's were 2-0 up and a man to the good. Firstly Aswad's cross caused confusion and the ball fell to KC who scored with a deft, improvised, finish.

The red card. It was another skip at Aldershot thing. No malice - just done by a lovely bit of skill by Jonah - but if studs were shown and it was high enough, well? Watching MotD last night a Fulham player and a Cardiff player both got away with yellows for far worse challenges. I doubt Wrexham will have given the ref the 7 he got in the NLP but that's hardly surprising.

The second half we started a little sloppily but Dale B got down the right, delivered and Craig E timed his run to perfection to head home a decisive third. It was game management from then on and U's did it well, restricting Wrexham to very few sights of goal while continuing to threaten to score themselves. The visiting 'keeper made two fine saves; the first from a Nick B left foot shot that was heading for the top corner and point blank from Aaron Drinan.

A great afternoon on the 3G that always plays better when the heavens have opened. A couple of dissenting voices about the surface have been shouted down on the Wrexham forum and we should congratulate their fans on a fine showing.

On to struggling Dover. They are meant to be another big side like Boreham Wood and we take them lightly in our peril.

I mentioned the roll of Ross L in a earlier post, what do we do with him is the question?

Ross is a good target man, but to me, thats isn't the style of play Dos has had success with over the years, and I don't think we have found the player yet to make best use of Ross's ability to win the high ball in the box (ie someone to play off his shoulder, a Ricky Miller or Danny Rowe etc).

We saw yesterday much better movement without the hopeful long ball, IMO Ross L can play up front as a striker in his own right without the roll of target man?

What I thought made a huge difference yesterday was Craig E knowing JC and NB were behind him giving him a much more creative position, one which I though made him MOTM with Nicky playing part of that?

[pinewalker]

Sept 23, 2018 9:22:32 GMT Del said:

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that Craig Eastmond was able to get forward more,due to the hardworking Brown & Bailey. I have long believed that he could be the midfielder to add a lot of goals from that position and we always look more dangerous when he takes advanced positions.

Not only due to Brown & Bailey methinks. 

Cast your mind back to Bromley away last season.  Eastmond scored.  Both the Twin-towers were rested for that game and the U's forwards were Jeffrey, Cadogan and Emmanuel (relatively) short, nimble and quick. Bromley's defence was pulled all over the place by passes played on the ground to and between the forwards, and it parted like the Red Sea for Eastmond to stride through and score.  

That game was the last that did not feature one of Dundas, Lafayette or Harrison as a target for the long aerial punt.  Perhaps the quicker, nimbler forwards wear down the legs of the defence more than U's do when playing with the target men, thus leaving gaps for Easty to exploit.

[davethegrave]

I haven't had a chance to read all of the comments on this thread but before the game I really wasn't worried. I know it was a disaster on Tuesday. Too many players had a bad game at the same time. However they always seem to raise their game against the big clubs. Plus I felt that the referee was really brave to give the penalty. After he'd warned them about holding, too many bottle the decision. I wasn't quite sure about the sending off though.

[cheshire]

Welsh FA have rescinded the red card shown to Summerfield on Sat