Throughout the 2015/16 football season I will be contributing to the Wrexham AFC matchday programme. I will be penning a feature called Memory Match, a look back at classic Wrexham games from the past that I will share in this blog over the coming months.
19-04-03
Kidderminster Harriers v Wrexham
Nationwide League Division Three
Aggborough
Result: 0-2
Kidderminster Harriers: Brock, Smith (Foster), Stamps, Bennett, Hinton, Scott, Flynn, Williams, Bishop (McAuley), Parrish, Shilton
Wrexham: Dibble, Whitley, Carey, Ferguson (Barrett), Roberts, Lawrence, Edwards, Green, Morrell, Trundle, Edwards
Goalscorer: Trundle 37, 64
Attendance: 3,689
Our first-ever League trip to Aggborough gave Denis Smith’s men the opportunity to gain revenge for a highly eventful defeat at the Racecourse in December 2002. Before that game, goalkeeper Paul Whitfield was injured in the warm-up and replaced by Kristian Rogers. On 63 minutes, Darren Ferguson was sent-off for allegedly stamping on Sean Parrish and after 84 minutes former Wrexham player Danny Williams was booked only a minute after coming on as substitute. It was a wretched performance by the home side and we slumped to a 0-2 defeat.
By the time we turned up at Aggborough the team had tapped into a rich vein of form and were on the promotion trail. Now would be the perfect time to avenge that defeat and extend our unbeaten run to ten games.
Kidderminster still had a play-off position to play for, but Denis Smith’s side overwhelmed their opponents with a scintillating performance in front of 1,400 travelling fans. Midfielder Scott Green – on loan from Wigan Athletic – had an early opportunity, but he couldn’t find the net after good work from leading scorer Andy Morrell.
The match was played in difficult conditions with a swirling wind causing all manner of problems, including a stoppage of ten minutes in the first half after scaffolding blew onto the pitch. This disruption didn’t stop Lee Trundle from concentrating on the job in hand and putting Wrexham ahead with an excellent goal eight minutes before half-time. Trundle ran with the ball and, despite having options, he found the bottom of the net from 25 yards with his left foot.
It was all one-way traffic in the first half, but three minutes after the break captain Darren Ferguson picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Paul Barrett. Still, this did not stop the charge of the Red Army. On 64 minutes the confident visitors doubled their lead when Brian Carey was on hand to meet a cross – though his header was somehow kept out by Stuart Brock in the Kidderminster goal and Trundle was on hand to convert the loose ball from close range.
In the latter stages of the match Dennis Lawrence had a header saved by Brock and although dominant Wrexham did not add to their tally, neither did they look like conceding. This was the Red Dragons’ fourth consecutive victory of an eight game winning streak as they eased to promotion in style – albeit they still only finished in third position on 84 points behind champions Rushden and Diamonds, and runners-up Hartlepool United. However, we did end up ten points clear of the fourth placed club, AFC Bournemouth.
***
Andy Morrell scored 34 league goals in the 2002/03 season, making him top scorer in all four divisions that year, having only scored two goals the entire previous season. This impressive haul set a new post-war scoring record for Morrell as he eclipsed Gary Bennett’s total of 32 in the 1993/94 season.
Denis Smith said: “I’m delighted for Andy. He’s had a superb season. Every club I’ve been at we’ve produced goal scorers. You’ve got to be there to finish them off and Andy does that brilliantly. He gets good service and I’m delighted for the lad.”
