Wrexham 1
Fleetwood Town 0
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Match Report

Background

Wrexham returned from their successful Wrex Coast Tour to face a Fleetwood side buoyed by a 3-0 win over Scottish Premier League side Hearts just seven days earlier. Dragons’ manager Phil Parkinson handed a first home start to George Dobson, whilst fellow new signings Callum Burton, Seb Revan, Chris Brunt were all included on a 15-man substitutes’ bench. Dan Scarr, whose arrival from Championship side Plymouth Argyle was confirmed the previous evening, had to be content with a watching brief from the stands. After a summer of wholesale changes following relegation from League One, Cod Army boss Charlie Adam made just one alteration to his starting XI from the Hearts game, Zech Medley replacing Harrison Holgate in a 5-3-2 formation.

Report

On a sunny afternoon at the Racecourse, Wrexham began brightly and an intricate move involving Elliott Lee and Sam Dalby created an early opportunity for Jack Marriott, but the former Fleetwood striker saw his powerful shot on the turn fly narrowly wide of the target. Lee then had a header saved before the lively Marriott raced onto Tom O’Connor’s flighted pass to bring another fine stop from visiting keeper David Harrington. With Dobson providing a platform in midfield for the attacking talents of Andy Cannon and Lee, the latter then skilfully played in Marriott, but he could only drag his shot wide of the far post when well placed.

Fleetwood’s only sight of goal inside the opening 25 minutes came when Carl Johnston broke down the right and his first time cross was met on the run by Ronan Coughlan, but the former Waterford man’s shot was superbly blocked by Max Cleworth. The visitors were forced into a slight reshuffle seven minutes before the break when Holgate replaced the injured Kayden Hughes and Adam made three further changes at the interval in a bid to stem the tide. One of those, Republic of Ireland U19 international Ryan Graydon, forced Arthur Okonkow into his only save of note inside the first sixty seconds of the second half.

A block tackle from Fleetwood captain Brendan Wiredu on O’Connor paved the way for Mark Helm to shoot wide from the edge of the area on 50 minutes, but it was a challenge which clearly upset the home side and subsequently gave the game far more of a competitive edge. Wrexham almost took the lead on the hour mark when the impressive Ryan Barnett floated in a right-wing cross which Marriott flicked goalward, the ball bouncing back off Mackenzie Hunt into the path of the striker whose second effort was blocked just short of the line.

Midway through the second period Parkinson brought on Ollie Palmer, Ryan Bolton and Seb Revan for Dalby, Barnett and Marriott respectively and their introduction paid dividends inside three minutes. Bolton’s cross to the far post just eluded Palmer - who appeared to be being fouled by Wiredu - only for O’Connor to swing the ball back in for his fellow centre-back Eoin O’Connell to send a looping header against the bar, Cleworth reacting first to fire home the loose ball from six-yards. It was no more than Wrexham deserved and, whilst both sides made a raft of late substitutions, the only moment of note in the closing stages was an altercation between James McClean and Wiredu which saw both players booked.

Quotes

"I thought it was a decent work out for us. They obviously came here and sat off the ball and worked hard out of possession. We had a lot of the ball, and I felt first-half particularly we moved it really well and created a lot of chances. It was about being patient second period…but we kept going, the moment came, and Max has taken the goal well."
Phil Parkinson (Wrexham AFC Manager)

"It was a good workout. I thought they were good, and they caused us problems. They’re a good outfit and played with a really good tempo and aggression and we needed everything to be spot on today."
Charlie Adam (Fleetwood Town Manager)

Post Match

Parkinson made two squad changes ahead of the League opener against Wycombe, Jordan Davies's move to Grimsby Town on a season-long loan paving the way for the club record signing of Ollie Rathbone from divisional rivals Rotherham United.