Pontin's - Wrexham 3 Preston NE 5
Goals:
0-1 Mellor (10)
1-1 Baynes (17)
2-1 Ugarte (54)
2-2 Ormerod (65)
3-2 Fleming (68)
3-3 Mellor (76)
3-4 Ormerod (79)
3-5 Whaley (81)
COACH Joey Jones was fuming at the end of this match, after twice watching his side concede a lead to Preston, which included allowing three goals in a five minute spell late in the game.
"It was the equivalent of footballing suicide," he said afterwards.
"You can't make the mistakes we did, and not expect the players of the quality of Brett Ormerod and Neil Mellor to take advantage."
The match was played with torrential rain falling throughout the first half, indeed, to such an extent that the referee conferred with both coaches as the whistle went for half time, to only have a five-minute break and then resume the action, in a bid to give themselves a chance of finishing the game as pools of water were springing up in several places.
Happily the rain storm did relent during the second period and the pitch coped with the tremendous amount of rain water dumped on it during that hour.
Wrexham fell behind after just 10 minutes, when former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor was set up for a strike just inside the home penalty area and he fired the ball into the net.
The response from the Welshmen was emphatic and midfielder Wes Baynes seized his chance on 17 minutes, when a deflection off Neil Roberts' heel landed at his feet and after taking the ball forward some 20 yards, he hammered in a 30-yard effort that keeper Chris Neal failed to deal with and the Reds were level.
Mellor saw Michael Jones then save another effort, before Roberts fired in a shot that struck a Preston upright with the rebound falling kindly for Josh Johnson, but he blazed the ball high into the Eric Roberts Stand with the goal exposed.
Neil Roberts strikes the Preston woodwork
After the interval, Juan Ugarte took advantage of the ball reaching him out wide by first firing in a shot that Neal blocked, but the striker picked up the rebound to skip passed the stranded keeper and walk into the net, despite the close attention of two defenders.
Mellor that placed a header only inches wide of the target before Brett Ormerod did draw his team level at 2-2 with a low shot that beat the unsighted Jones on 65 minutes.
Not that Wrexham sat back, because within three minutes they edged back in front when Baynes broke through the centre, played a one-two with Roberts, before picking out Andy Fleming with a pass and the midfielder beat Neal from about 15-yards out.
The Dragons' lead was almost doubled on 75 minutes when a bizarre clearance by full back Dylan Adams flew in completely the wrong direction and only just cleared his own crossbar, from some distance out!
That corner did lead to a goal, but at the opposite end of the park, as Preston broke up field and Simon Whaley's pass inside for Neil Mellor allowed the forward to spin some 15 yards out and fire a low shot under Jones.
Preston edged in front on 79 minutes, when Brett Ormerod displayed some great skill in bringing under control a ball that came to him over his shoulder and then lobbing the stranded Jones. Despite a brave attempt to clear off his own line by Shaun Pejic, the ball still found the back of the net.
Any hope of salvaging a point was ended just two minutes later, when a defensive mixed up allowed substitute Danny Mayor to cross the ball from the side of the Wrexham penalty area to pick out the unmarked Simon Whaley, who slide the ball home into an empty net.
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WREXHAM |
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PRESTON NORTH END |
| 1 Michael Jones 2 Jamie Price (*) 3 Chris Marriott 4 Shaun Pejic 5 Lee Jones 6 Andy Fleming 7 Wes Baynes 8 Levi Mackin (c) 9 Neil Roberts 10 Juan Ugarte 11 Josh Johnson |
1 Chris Neal | |
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Subs: |
Subs: | |
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12 Kai Edwards (*72) |
12 Thomas McMahon (+87) |
Referee: Oli Langford
Attendance: 120
Away: 7
