Wrexham Away Lost 2 – 1 gutted!
No team surprises at Wrexham – well, why would there be? The home team came into the game after a drubbing at West Ham which may explain their approach, which was to keep a solid defensive shape while Saints spent their time passing the ball around looking for an opening. That didn’t pose a unique problem and for the most part we’ve dealt pretty well with it at St. Mary’s. I think we’ve not been far off on the road either, but we either run out of patience or concede against the run of play, leaving us with one point from six… make that one from nine now. Somehow, having barely ventured over the halfway line, Wrexham won a corner in the 35th minute and Moore won a far post header that (somehow, again) found its way into the net past Peretz and a covering defender. Shortly before the goal, Scienza went down under the latest heavy challenge on him, but managed to limp on… but not after the half-time cuppa as Edozie came on. Edozie, rightly enough, wants more game time, but he’s got into a vicious circle of not being totally prepared for the limited opportunities he has behind Scienza, and this time his ineffectiveness lasted 45 minutes. An equaliser five minutes after the restart came via the other flank: Wrexham’s defence touched on Bree’s cross for Ward-Prowse to blast home after his first attempt was blocked. Every chance that Saints would go on to complete a victory but the team seemed to tire, not to mention run out of ideas, despite trying Fellows instead of Matsuki – we really miss Jander at times like this. The feeling in the last quarter was that a point would actually be nice, especially after Moore audaciously managed to bounce the ball onto the bar from just inside the Southampton half – it had looked like a tip-over by Peretz but the referee, who was considerably nearer, awarded a goal kick. What in the first half hour had seemed unthinkable happened in the dying minutes when Ekomié exposed Fellows’ defensive weaknesses and sent in a low cross that seemed to have eluded Peretz when O’Hara and Schlotterbeck went for it, with the German eventually debited by most with an own goal – he was in an impossible position, though. With the FA judgement on Spygate now in sight at last, it could turn out to be a sad end to the Eckert reign, although I suspect m’learned friends will still have a lot to say even if the disciplinary hawks get their way.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
4. Flynn Downes, although he spoiled his recently improved disciplinary record by being one of two frustrated players cautioned in added time.
27. Kuryo Matsuki. No surprise that he was replaced by Fellows in an attempt to win the game, but it only showed how important he had been.
30 James Ward-Prowse, and not just for the goal.
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