Goals from Ollie Palmer, Paul Mullin and Andy Cannon saw Wrexham defeat Crewe Alexandra at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 1 change from last Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat against Grimsby Town with Aaron Rowe replacing Charlie Kirk, who dropped down to the bench (where he would be joined by Chris Long and Shilow Tracey). Former Alex loanee Arthur Okonkwo would start for the visitors while both George Evans and Callum McFadzean (who also had short spells with the Alex) were named among their substitutes.
The game’s opening chance and goal came in the 24th minute as a cross from the right side from Mullin was headed in by Palmer from close range before the goalscorer would have an effort saved by Max Stryjek 9 minutes later.
The game’s flash point occurred just before half-time after a late challenge from Rowe caught James McClean, the Irishman reacting to it by moving his head towards the on-loan Huddersfield man as both players and Zac Williams were booked for their part in the melee that followed. From the resulting free-kick, the long ball was flicked on by Palmer with Mullin lifting the ball over Stryjek to double the visitors’ lead.
Elliott Nevitt would force a save out of Okonkwo in the 51st minute before Elliott Lee would be denied by Stryjek a couple of times in as many minutes. Ryan Cooney would be sent off in the 54th minute after a slight push from Mullin saw the Alex right-back handle the ball with their third goal coming on the hour-mark with a poor pass from Rowe intercepted by Lee who fed Cannon to roll the ball into the goal.
The next couple of games see the Alex finishing the regular season with a trip to Colchester United next Saturday with a potential play-off game taking place on Bank Holiday Monday (6th May).
Final Thoughts:
You have to look at the two potential red card decisions with McClean avoiding a red despite throwing his head towards Rowe (and then holding him up to make sure that he didn’t go down) that would be given on another day and the push on Cooney in the red that was given – not that either decision would have affected the overcome of the match.
Alexandra Stadium
League 2
20/04/2024 1:30 pm
Attendance: 9033
Referee: Seb Stocksbridge
| Crewe Alexandra | Wrexham | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer, Mullin, Cannon | |||||||
| Stryjek | Okonkwo | ||||||
| Cooney | Barnett | 76 | |||||
| Williams | Cleworth | ||||||
| Demetriou | O'Connell | ||||||
| Adebisi | O'Connor | ||||||
| Billington | McClean | 46 | |||||
| Austerfield | Cannon | 76 | |||||
| Rowe | 69 | Young | |||||
| Tabiner | 62 | Lee | |||||
| Holicek | Palmer | 66 | |||||
| Nevitt | 87 | Mullin | 66 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Lenarcik | Howard | ||||||
| Long | McFadzean | 46 | |||||
| Tracey | 62 | Tozer | |||||
| Finney | 69 | Davies | 76 | ||||
| Kempster-Down | Marriott | 66 | |||||
| Kirk | 87 | Bolton | 76 | ||||
| Agius | Fletcher | 66 | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 7 | Goal attempts | 25 |
| 2 | On Target | 10 |
| 3 | Corners | 6 |
| 10 | Fouls | 10 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 1 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 43 | % | 57 |