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90 min +3: “I want a clean sheet,” demands Reynolds. It looks like he’s going to get one.
90 min +1: Widell hauls Kabore to the ground in irritation. Had that happened earlier in the game, the referee might have flashed a card. But he realises Swansea’s frustration and makes do with a lecture.
90 min: There will be five additional minutes.
GOAL! Wrexham 2-0 Swansea City (Cullen og 88)
Thomason crosses from the left. Doyle rises to win a header at the far post. It’s heading wide left, but pings off the heel of Cullen and past the wrong-footed Vigouroux. Game over!
86 min: Smith is replaced by Cadamarteri, who wastes no time in getting involved, not quite getting enough contact on a header eight yards out.
84 min: This game is petering out, to the point that Rob Mac and former Wrexham striker Steven Fletcher are now talking about their record when pairing up at golf.
82 min: Tymon is replaced by Walta.
81 min: Some more head tennis in the Wrexham box. The ball drops to Yalcouye, who slices horribly wide right. He should have worked the keeper at the very least. “Bloody hell,” snaps Reynolds. Hey, it’s after the watershed.
79 min: Kabore has been excellent for Wrexham tonight. His whipped cross in from the right is turned behind by Burgess, and from the corner, Rathbone flays high over the bar.
77 min: A long ball down the middle towards Windass. Tymon battles for it on the halfway line, and the ball hits his arm. He’s the last man, and that looked deliberate, so Wrexham want a red card … but it’s not a Dogso. Just a yellow. “Has anyone ever caught a ball in their mouth?” wonders Ryan Reynolds. This show hasn’t really got going, has it.
75 min: The action has almost ground to a halt. Neither team in any sort of rhythm. Widell comes on for Stamenic.
73 min: O’Brien has the opportunity to release Smith down the middle, but faffs and the chance is gone.
71 min: Doyle curls a dangerous deep cross in from the left. Smith doesn’t compete for it at the far stick. That’s a bit better from Wrexham.
69 min: With nothing much going on, talk turns esoterically to the efforts of Racecourse head groundsman Paul Chaloner. “He has individually named each blade of grass and given them a backstory,” extemporises Reynolds. “Do not mess with this man’s pitch.”
67 min: Windass comes on for the goalscorer Broadhead, who takes his place in the dugout. “He’s not putting a warm-up coat on,” notes Ryan Reynolds. “Does he know he can’t go back in?”
66 min: Some pinball in the Wrexham box. It drops to Stamenic, who creams a shot towards the bottom right. Okonkwo gets down to parry brilliantly, and nothing comes of the resulting corner. “He’s my favourite human being on earth tonight,” says Rob Mac of his keeper. “You have to be wondering how you’re going to get the ball past this man.”
64 min: It’s all got a bit scrappy. Two-pass moves at a premium.
62 min: Eom’s first act is to send Rathbone off to the shops for a copy of the Wrexham Evening Leader. The resulting attempt at a cross is no good, though.
61 min: Kabore tries to skin Tymon down the right. He might have done so had the defender not stuck out an arm and whacked him on the jaw. No foul. The second time the referee has been strangely laissez faire during this second half. Both teams have benefitted in turn.
59 min: A triple change for Swansea. Ronald, Nunes and Franco are replaced by Cullen, Yalcouye and Eom.
58 min: Nunes tries to release Tymon into the Wrexham box down the inside-left channel, but overhits the pass. It’s not quite happening for Swansea.
56 min: Broadhead shovels a pass down the inside-right channel for Rathbone, who hits a cross-cum-shot that’s snaffled by Vigouroux at the near post.
54 min: Tymon crosses low from the Swansea left. Hyam hooks clear. Swansea are enjoying the majority of the possession again, but they’ve not forced Okonkwo into action for a while now.
52 min: Cleworth strides elegantly down the right and passes infield for Smith, who tries to dink the ball over Cabango. He doesn’t quite manage it. Had he pulled off the trick, he was through on goal.
50 min: Galbraith curls in from the right. Franco comes across to chest down. Hyam barges him straight in the back and over. It’s surely a penalty, but the referee isn’t interested. Wrexham get away with a big one. Not sure what Hyam was thinking.
49 min: Smith snaffles a loose ball in the centre circle and powrs down the middle. He feeds Broadhead to his left. He’s got time to shape a shot towards the bottom right, but sends a poor curler well wide of the post.
47 min: A ball rolled down the middle has Wrexham at sixes and sevens. Nunes runs towards it and tries a first-time lay-off to Vipotnik, but gets it all wrong. Had he trapped that and taken it on himself, he was through.
Swansea City get the second half started. No changes.
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HALF TIME: Wrexham 1-0 Swansea City
A capsule review of the first half, courtesy of Rob Mac: “Giddy up!”
45 min +2: Rathbone hassles Stamenic, facing his own goal, into the concession of a corner. O’Brien sends the set piece long. Doyle rises highest at the far post, and surely has to score, but sends his header across the face of goal and out. A huge chance to double Wrexham’s lead!
45 min: Kabore dribbles hard down the right, using Tymon as a shield. At the edge of the box, he attempts an outside-of-foot curler towards the top left. Always wide and high, but a fine effort nonetheless. There will be one minute of additional time.
43 min: Swansea with a free kick out on the right. Nunes fails to beat the first man. Wrexham half clear. Ronald swings in from the same flank. Vipotnik stoops by the near post, and flashes a header wide.
41 min: Thomason passes infield from the left. A ricochet nearly tees up Broadhead to the left of the D … but not quite. Swansea aren’t doing a particularly good job in locating Broadhead down this channel. He’s been impressively slippery.
39 min: Kabore jinks his way down the right, having taken control of a sweeping O’Brien pass, and wins a corner. O’Brien takes the set piece, looping it to the far stick. Another corner’s won. Wrexham play it short, and nearly balls it up, but Swansea only half clear. Kabore races down the right again, and his fierce low cross only just evades Smith in the middle. A 2-0 scoreline would seriously flatter Wrexham, but they’ve come real close to it.
37 min: Swansea have responded well to falling behind. They’re hogging possession again, probing hither and yon. “Swansea could still sneak into the playoffs,” insists Julian Menz. “As someone of a certain age who remembers the 70s/80s/90s, I bet the Met would absolutely love the prospect of policing Millwall v Swansea at Wembley. Regarding just how far the game has come, I have no worries taking my 10-year-old daughter to a game now. I’d give that one a swerve though.”
35 min: More heroics from Okonkwo, who blocks a point-blank prod by Burgess, the ball having come in from the right. Turns out three Swansea players were offside, and the flag goes up, but the keeper wasn’t to know that. He’s doing a good job in making up for that costly mistake in Swansea last December.
