Solihull Moors 0 Wrexham 1 Attendance 1349
A controversial early penalty decided a scrappy encounter as
Wrexham recorded their first away win since October against Solihull Moors.
On a blustery afternoon at the Automated Technology Group
Stadium, a spot kick was awarded by referee Steven Rushton in the fifth minute
when an innocuous cross from the Wrexham left struck Kristian Green.
Anthony Barry duly stepped up and slotted the ball into the
bottom right corner, sending Baxter the wrong way.
The only other effort of note in the first half hour came
when Perry Barr born Izale McLeod was impeded on 20 yards out and picked himself
up to fire the free kick against the crossbar.
It proved a wake up call for Moors as they ended the half
strongly with Calum Flanagan heavily involved down the left and creating a
couple of half chances. Moors felt they had a shout for a penalty themselves on
42 minutes when skipper Liam Daly appeared to have his shirt pulled as he tried
to get on the end of a Nortei Nortey free kick at the far post.
Moors started the second half in the same vein but could not
create an opening until the 56th minute when Green and Regan
Charles-Cook combined to put Harry White through but his well struck effort was
palmed away by visiting keeper Chris Dunn.
Jack Byrne then came closest to levelling the scores when
Wrexham failed to clear a corner and his shot across the goal from the right of
the penalty box was scrambled off the line.
Liam McDonald threw caution to the wind with a triple
substitution just after the hour mark win when he threw
on Dapo Afolayan, Omari Sterling-James and Simeon Maye in place of White,
Charles-Cook and Nortey.
But just minutes after the changes referee Rushton caused a
bigger storm than Doris amongst the home crowd when he sent off Byrne following
a melee in the Wrexham penalty area. Goalscorer Barry was yellow carded for his
role in the incident.
Ten Ten man Moors battled on gamely in a bid to salvage a point
but Kettle’s poked shot just wide of the upright was the only effort of note
as The Dragons saw out the match without further alarm.
Said manager Liam McDonald "Performance wise, we struggled, there was no energy and we
lacked a lot today. It was disappointing because we have worked so hard over
the last month. Our work rate has always been good but today was maybe a step
too far for us where we didn’t play very well.
“I’ve said to the lads I felt we let ourselves down with the
manner of how we lost - we did not put up much of a fight until we went down
to ten men. “It’s an unusual performance from us but we will
bounce back Tuesday (against Torquay).
Solihull Moors: Baxter, Murombedzi, Daly ©, Kettle,
Flanagan, Byrne, Green, White (Afolayan), Carline, Nortey (Maye), Charles-Cook
(Sterling-James).Subs Not Used Lewis, Sammons
Report from Chris Cresswell Photos courtesy Steve Feeney
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