Wrexham Reserves 5
Rochdale Reserves 0
Central League (West Division)

Match Report

A strong reserve side made it a quick-fire double following the 3-0 win at Rochdale three weeks earlier with an equally emphatic five-goal romp against the same opponents on a freezing cold night at Globe Way. The win lifted the Dragons into fourth place after a run of five wins in eight games. And, more importantly, there was further good news with Danny Williams getting another hour of football under his belt and Eifion Williams 87 minutes during which time he bagged a brace of goals.

A tentative start to the game gave little indication of what was to follow but once Mike Carvill had been unlucky with a 22-yard chip that beat Rochdale keeper Steve Collins but cannoned back off the bar Wrexham started to dictate proceedings. Marc Williams (twice) and Matty Done both called Collins into action but it wasn’t until the 28th minute that the breakthrough finally arrived. A ball down the right-hand channel gave Marc Williams something to chase and, as Collins came out towards the corner of the penalty area to close down the angle, he slotted the ball goalwards with the outside of his right foot. The ball crept slowly towards the goal but rebounded off the inside post and back into play where Eifion Williams was on hand to apply the simple finish from close range.

Two minutes later Marc took a centre from Done and made space just inside the box for a left-foot curler that drifted just wide, but the closing stages of the half fell into something of a lull and the interval arrived without further scoring. It took until the hour mark for the Dragons to re-impose themselves fully on the game and they did so by grabbing the game’s second goal. Robbie Garrett found Marc Williams whose intended pass for Done took a lucky ricochet directly into the path of Carvill who drilled the ball low to Collins’ right and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from about 16 yards out.

Six minutes later it was 3-0. Matty Done was tripped near the left-hand corner of the area and Silvio Spann swung in a low free kick that Marc Williams missed at the near post but substitute Lee Jones was on hand to make no mistake from close range at the far post. You did get the feeling that the flood gates were now well and truly open and a fourth goal duly arrived on 76 minutes when Carvill made a strong run down the right before pulling the ball back to Eifion Williams who clinically swept the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from 16 yards out.

It took just another two minutes for the Dragons to add a fifth goal when Marc Williams held the ball up waiting for Carvill to overlap to his right before slotting the ball through for the Irishman to fire a right foot shot into the bottom left-hand corner in an almost identical manner to his first goal. Marc Williams’s headed flick on put Eifion clear on goal but, with a hat trick on the cards, the former Hartlepool striker blazed over the bar from the edge of the box.

Marc Williams shot straight at the keeper as the Dragons went in search of a sixth goal and, at the other end, Michael Jones showed that his levels of concentration remained high when he dived smartly to his left to deny Dennis Sheriff a late consolation goal for the visitors. A late Spann free kick from a central position 20 yards out then had ‘Dale’s substitute goalkeeper flying to his left to parry the ball away but there was to be no further scoring.