WREXHAM 0 GRIMSBY TOWN 0
Mark Currie - Daily Post

MANAGERIAL mind games tend to be the stuff of high-octane Premiership rivalries, but Wrexham boss Brian Little had a little dabble of his own following Saturday's 0-0 Racecourse stalemate with Grimsby Town.

His Dragons side are back on home soil - or should that be sand? - tomorrow evening to lock horns with Darren Ferguson's promotion-chasing Peterborough United, little more than a fortnight after a no-holds barred 0-0 draw at London Road that ruined the former Wrexham midfielder's birthday.

Highly critical of Little's match tactics that afternoon, Ferguson also accused Wales defender Steve Evans of head-butting goalkeeper Joe Lewis in an incident that appeared to be nothing more than an accidental collision between the two players.

The sour grapes, though, probably had more to do with his side's failure to take all three points, thereby damaging United's chances of the promotion demanded by an ambitious and impatient chairman.

Hinting that rookie boss Ferguson might be feeling the pressure and predicting a feisty affair in the Racecourse rematch, Little said: "That's what the game is all about. They were disappointed they didn't beat us a few weeks ago and I understand that, but we are looking forward to it every bit as much as they are and I'm quite sure it will be a good game.

"I genuinely hope we can do well against them, but I am very mindful of the fact that they are a very, very good side.

"And in fairness to Darren (Ferguson) and Kevin (Russell) they are probably doing one of the hardest things in lower league football."

Little added: "When you are expected to do something and expected to do well, that's as hard a job as you can get at this level and to be fair to them they are doing pretty well at the moment. So they have our respect and we are looking forward to the game."

The prospect of some fireworks tomorrow evening will come as a welcome relief to the loyal 4,000 or so Dragons fans who eschewed the alternative attraction of watching the Wales rugby team hammer Italy in Cardiff with a level of penetration that was sadly lacking from both teams in action at the Racecourse.

But Warren Gatland's players did not have to contend with a playing surface resembling a soggy beach, which made it extremely difficult to move the ball around with any degree of confidence.

Such is the price Wrexham have to pay for staging an international match in conditions which, under League Two circumstances, would never have gone ahead. The only consolation for Little is that his players will at least have the advantage of prior experience when Peterborough, and Mansfield on Saturday, come to town.

The initial signs on Saturday were encouraging for the home side, whose only changes from their previous start at London Road saw Jeff Whitley come into midfield as a replacement for the injured Neil Roberts and Carl Tremarco returning at the expense of Neil Taylor.

It was pretty much one-way traffic for 25 minutes, with Wrexham pushing forward and forcing their opponents to defend in numbers without ever looking capable of producing an end product.

Stuart Nicholson's guile and pace offered a half chance as early as the third minute, but his route to goal was quickly shut off and an adventurous Simon Spender had two bites at the cherry, but failed to test goalkeeper Phil Barnes on either occasion.

Too often players were caught out by uneven bounces, notably in the eighth minute when Chris Llewellyn scuffed a shot goalwards that Nicholson might have converted, but for another miscue that then hit a defender and went behind for a corner.

There was more purpose from the Dragons in the 24th minute when Spender picked out Nicholson's run down the right and, although the striker's centre was met at the far post by Tremarco, his header flew over the crossbar.

For all the endeavour, though, it was evident that the home side's midfield pair of Whitley and Danny Sonner were finding the conditions less than conducive to their strengths on the ball, while Chris Llewellyn also struggled to make the impact of which he is capable.

And after their sluggish start, Grimsby began to assert themselves, with Nick Hegarty, in particular, finding the more solid ground on the flank to his liking.

His 26th-minute cross caused momentary panic in Wrexham's back line until Steve Evans took a decisive swing at the ball, and the big defender was again in the right place to clear the danger when the wing-back delivered another teasing centre three minutes later.

A fine tackle from Nicky Fenton on Drewe Broughton denied Barnes his opportunity to make the first save of the game and that dubious honour fell to Gavin Ward at the other end in the 38th minute when Ciaran Toner tried his luck from 25 yards.

But the Dragons might have had a penalty in the final minute of the half when Robert Atkinson handled under pressure from Nicholson, referee Andy Haines giving the defender the benefit of the doubt by awarding a free kick on the edge of the box.

Any optimism that the second period would improve was short-lived, with Grimsby seemingly happy to settle for a point against a Wrexham side nervous about dropping two.

Only that could explain the absence of any home player in the Mariners' penalty area when Ryan Bennett misjudged a long throw from Tremarco, the ball clearing the defender before rolling harmlessly across the six-yard box.

The game desperately needed an injection and both managers duly obliged with fresh legs from the bench. But it was one of those days as home substitute Michael Proctor and his Grimsby counterpart Gary Jones both missed out on opportunities to become match-winners.

Proctor, who came off the bench to score a second decisive goal against Darlington in Wrexham's last home game, was denied a penalty when Bennett clearly used his arm to thwart the striker five minutes from time and when play switched to the other end, an off-balance Jones could only fire wide from Paul Bolland's cross.

And the final chance of the game fell to the Dragons striker in the 89th minute when he cleverly made space for a shot from 20 yards that curled just over the crossbar.

FAW PREMIER CUP JUST NEVER TOOK OFF
Paul Abbandonato - Western Mail

BARRING an organisation agreeing to plough £360,000 a year into a competition which Cardiff City and Swansea City stick their reserves into, the FAW Premier Cup will cease to exist within the next few days.

A board meeting takes place this week to determine the future of the often-troubled tournament.

And, unless FAW secretary David Collins has a hush-hush new sponsorship deal up his sleeve (which I doubt), there is only one realistic outcome.

The end.

Current backers BBC Wales have done their best to trumpet the competition during its 11-year history. But the reality is that, in the eyes of the majority of the Welsh public, the Premier Cup never matched up to its name tag.

On the contrary, far from being premier, too often it has been perceived as second rate.

And that is a shame, because in theory this is a cup competition that has done an awful lot of good for Welsh football.

Most significantly, it brought our game back together again after the huge divides that were created at the start of the1990s when the League of Wales was set up.

There was anger, friction, resentment at the time. We even had the absurd situation of the FAW kicking Newport, Merthyr and Colwyn Bay into exile ... Welsh clubs prohibited from playing their home matches in Wales because they wouldn't entertain the idea of joining the new league.

Suddenly, after what appeared to be almost never the twain shall meet, we had LoW sides playing against, and being friendly with, the exiled three, plus Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham again.

Money from the Premier Cup has helped LoW clubs greatly improve their ground facilities.

More significantly, the £100,000 generated from winning the competition has played a part in helping our Big Three to keep going at various points over the past 11 years.

Each of the league trio have faced a financial crisis during that period. Each of them gratefully accepted the money from the Premier Cup... whether to pay summer wages, Inland Revenue bill, sign a new player, whatever.

But, to be blunt, the real pros of the Premier Cup pretty much end there. It has always been a competition fighting on the back foot in terms of winning over officials, managers, top players and, most importantly, the fans.

The most fundamental reason is because the FAW never sanctioned, or could never sanction, European entry for the winners.

That resulted in lifting the trophy meaning diddly squat to the players of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham, who rightly thought they had much bigger fish to fry.

There was lots of grand talk about the FAW looking to give European entry to the "big three" via the competition, but predictably nothing materialised.

The attitude of Dave Jones and Roberto Martinez towards the Premier Cup hasn't helped matters in recent times, as they have each, by and large, stuck out second-string XIs.

Who can blame them for doing that in a competition where nothing tangible is at stake when they have much more important matters in the Championship, League One and FA Cup?

The Bluebirds have even threatened to pull out of the Premier Cup entirely. While Wales' biggest club treat the competition with such a lack of respect, why on earth should any potential new sponsors wish to come on board?

I hesitate to say this, but it's almost as if Cardiff City are bigger than the Premier Cup. When you get to that sort of position, you've no real hope. BBC Wales have done their best, again against the tide, to try to build up the competition. But their coverage left a lot to be desired at times and they were never going to fool the majority of the Welsh public.

BBC Wales may, or may not, have been promised European entry from their competition in due course. For whatever reason, it never materialised.

I suspect it's a mixture of the competition failing to ignite in the first place, going downhill subsequently, plus the fact that the Beeb don't have the Wales international rights and will soon get League football coverage, that has led to them pulling the plug.

That's speculative, but surely everything has had a bearing in one way or another.

The fact that this year's final will probably be between Newport and Llanelli says everything, really.

No disrespect to either side, but the broadcasters desperately needed Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham to pick their best XIs, treat the competition with credibility and thus contest a cup final which would have broader appeal.

Instead, we have a game of minimal interest, which won't even be played at a Football League ground ... let alone the Millennium Stadium.

In its 11 years, the Premier Cup has had its odd moment. Wrexham, under Brian Flynn, did the competition proud in the early days.

The old Barry Town team were an excellent example to the rest of LoW clubs and gave the bigger guns a real run for their money.

But in those 11 years, only two matches really stand out for me.

One was a game right at the start between Barry and Merthyr, which was a battle of the LoW flag bearers against a side who refused to join because they didn't deem the standard good enough.

It was the first coming together since the big split, a match with real edge, two clubs with huge points to prove. Merthyr, for the record, won 1-0 at Jenner Park.

The other tie that stands out was a final between Cardiff and Swansea at Ninian Park.

The Bluebirds won 1-0, courtesy of a Graham Kavanagh goal. But the result wasn't relevant for me.

The game is best remembered for the fact that more than 11,000 flocked through the turnstiles, including thousands from Swansea, who helped create a fantastic atmosphere.

That was the sort of attendance, and atmosphere, the old Welsh Cup used to throw up year in, year out.

Food for thought, there, for the FAW. But rather than just let six clubs drift away again, why not keep Cardiff and co, merge the Premier Cup with the old Welsh Cup, and nominate the winners for Europe?

That set of circumstances really would make it our premier cup, a competition really worth winning.