Wrexham Reserves 4
Morecambe Reserves 5
Central League (West Division)

Match Report

The Dragons were edged out in a nine-goal thriller at Globe Way as the visitors maintained their strong challenge for the Championship at the first attempt with a remarkable comeback. Trailing 2-0 a couple of minutes before the interval the Shrimpers looked far from a side that had lost just two games and conceded a mere thirteen goals going into the game. Indeed with better finishing – the Dragons could easily have been out of sight within the first quarter-of-an-hour – their margin of deficit would have been significantly more than just a couple of goals. But ex-Red Jon Newby crossed on 43 minutes and Aaron Taylor pounced to give his side a lifeline they grabbed eagerly with both hands.

Wrexham made a breathtaking start and carved out numerous chances right from the outset. In the fourth minute Mike Carvill pulled the ball back from the by-line but Jamie Reed – back following a successful loan spell with Tamworth – saw his shot deflected behind for a corner. Two minutes later Morecambe keeper Shaun Jalal easily saved another effort by the returning striker, and on 7 minutes a Josh Johnson shot was somehow headed away by a defender with Jalal looking beaten.

Jalal tipped over a 20-yard Silvio Spann free kick on 17 minutes as the Reds continued to push forward, and after his corner kick had been headed away the Trinidadian crossed the ball back in where Reed directed a point-blank header straight at the visiting keeper. Unfortunately that was one of the striker’s last contributions as he was helped from the field with an injury after 22 minutes.

Jalal made another smart save to deny Carvill just before the half-hour mark before the seemingly inevitable breakthrough finally arrived in bizarre circumstances on 36 minutes. Carvill’s angled shot was parried by Jalal and following a mix up at the back Paul Jarvis appeared to hammer the ball against team mate Simon Grand with the ball rebounding into the empty net, though Marc Williams wheeled away claiming that he’d had the final touch!

Six minutes later, again in somewhat bizarre fashion, it was 2-0 when Spann’s right-side corner was headed firmly goalwards by Shaun Pejic. Jalal appeared to catch the ball on the line but then stumble backwards and release the ball. Any doubts about whether the ball had crossed the line were made immaterial as both Carvill and Marc Williams were on hand to make sure the loose ball entered the net, with the former claming the goal on this occasion. But then almost immediately came the Taylor strike that effectively changed the game and gave Joey Jones’ side something to think about during the break.

Marc Williams could have restored the Dragons two-goal lead a couple of minutes after the restart but fired over when put clear, and Pejic headed another Spann corner over the stadium perimeter fencing when any contact looked certain to lead to a third goal. And the misses were to prove costly as on 62 minutes Newby beat Chris Maxwell with a shot from the right that took a deflection off Pejic and just two minutes later Danny Williams felled Taylor inside the box and Paul Lloyd sent Maxwell the wrong way from the spot to give the visitors an unlikely lead.
Lloyd emphatically made it 4-2 to Morecambe in the 75th minute and Taylor fired home from the edge of the box to make it 5-2 a couple of minutes later.

That was pretty much game over though to the Dragons credit they kept going and made the scoreline respectable with a couple of late goals. Firstly Wes Baynes capped a fine individual run from inside his own half with a blistering right foot drive into the bottom right-hand corner on 87 minutes and then, deep into added-on time, Jalal fumbled a Carvill shot and Johnson was on hand to easily convert the rebound.

“Shocking,” is how Joey Jones summed up the game. “We really could have scored six in the first half, but in the second there was some dreadful defending and we paid a heavy price.”