Drewe Love!

Drewe Broughton is eager to see his two old sides, Wrexham and Chester, return swiftly to The Football League, and I half agree with him!!

Of course Broughton's record of playing in teams that get relegated is well known. yet he manages to do exactly what we aspire to: he consistently remains in the Football League.

I was about to suggest he splits Wrexham fans' opinions, but realised I'd be lying; it seems most people didn't like him much. Yet is that fair? He's certainly a more steady character than Jeff Louis; you might shoot back that Louis scores more goals, but who wanted to retain him at the end of the season?

By way of contrast, there are plenty of Football League managers willing to employ Broughton. This might not be the most widely-held notion, but I reckon we'd have been better off if we'd held onto Broughton. And he's six years younger than Gareth Taylor!

Wrexham Rejects Still Do The Business!

First Adam Smith, then Christian Smith and now Rob Duffy! It seems it doesn't take all that much to make an impact in opposing penalty areas in The Conference, as those three Wrexham cast-offs are all finding it no problem to hit the net. Duffy has popped up at Mansfield and seems to be a big hit, posing the question whether Brian Little, who brought him in but never game him a start, ought to have allowed him more of an opportunity to show what he could do for us. His career stats suggest he's a goalscorer, but Little preferred Drewe Broughton to lead the line in our attempt to stay in the Football League. And look where that got us.

Okay, I'd better stop being hypocritical and admit I rather liked Broughton, and was one of the few who was sorry to see him go. However, he was hardly full of goals, and who knows what might have happened if Duffy had been given a run?

Drewe's Back on the Market

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wimbledon/7406486.stm

So Drewe Broughton is looking for a new club! I'll stick my head above the parapet and say I'm one of the minority-I'd have him back!

Not that I think that's on the agenda-Brian Little clearly wantsw as clean a slate as possible, and only the youngsters are going to be given a second chance in general. I'd be happy to see Broughton lending his weight to our efforts to return to the Football League for a few reasons though.

Firstly, I should admit that I do see why people are not keen on the notion. He hardly peppered opposing goalkeepers with shots and his strike rate was completely unacceptable. However, he does cause disruption and could do a very good job in support of a prolific striker (where we get one of them from is, admittedly, a good question!)

I'm not going to claim he'd score more at Conference level-I don't think the issue of his inability to score would be resolved by dropping a league. His committment would be a great asset though; you can't claim he wouldn't put himself about, and I think we might need a bit of that next season.

His return would also give my "Jim Steel's Love Child" t-shirt a reprieve.

Four in Four

Can Michael Proctor save us? Hopefully his scoring form can continue-the last Wrexham player to score in four consecutive games for us was Mark Jones at the start of last season.

The constant impression Proctor gves is that he's something of a mercurial player. In and out of games and, as the season progresses, in and out of form. However, there's always a sense that he'll turn up with something-he's perhaps the one player we have who is likely to come up with the unexpected, the decisive.

The facts back that up. Quite apart from this little run of goals, he came on as sub in our last five games, managing just ninety-eight minutes in the process, and scored another two goals. The figures continue to back him up, and belie any notion that he is inconsistent, when you look at his record in a Wrexham shirt. Fourteen goals in thirty-one starts, pretty much a goal every other game, is a pretty tasty strike rate considering the fact that the highest position we've held since he arrived is nineteenth if you disregard a one week anomaly after two games this season when we were eighth by virtue of his two goals against Morecambe.

One of the things I like most about Proctor, quite apart from his goals, is his intelligence. he holds the ball up and brings others into play with his measured passing and good vision, and with Brian Little bringing in the likes of Paul Hall and Sam Aiston Proctor now has players with experience whose movement is more likely to be on his wavelength. Both hall and Aiston are comfortable playing out to in or in to out when they're on the flanks, and if you offer Proctor movement there's a good chance he'll spot you and find you.

Likewise Drewe Broughton is a valuable foil for Proctor. I love a big target man, as you might have noticed from my constant harking back to Jim Steel! Little's choice of big bruiser up front hasn't disappointed me! Broughton doesn't just win his fair share in the air, he causes ripples of disruption around him. Have you noticed how many centre backs have poor games when they're marking him, most notably Darlington's Steve Foster, one of the best defenders in the lower divisions who couldn't stop fouling him and had to be withdrawn at half time.

Broughton creates plenty of loose balls and holds it up well too, and the more scraps there are for Proctor to latch onto the more he should score.

Well I feel optimistic now-I didn't know five hundred words ago that I'd made us sound like a promotion side!

Bury Podcast

The Supporters Association's podcast is now up at http://www.wrexhamfan.co.uk/ featuring Brian Little, Drewe Broughton and Alan Knill.

You Can't Help Gloating!

It was a perfect case of schadenfreude on Sunday.

Chester could have scored a few but were repelled by a goalkeeper they released at the start of the year. Ward showed City what they threw away with his virtuoso display, which included one save right out of the top drawer.

Oh, did I forget to mention that the save in question was made from a player who turned down the chance to sign for us six weeks ago?

And to my eyes the other outstanding performances came from Phill Bolland, also released at Christmas by Chester, and Drewe broghton, one of five ex-Cestrians who were on the pitch for us at The Deva!

Factor in scoring our opening goal within a minute of a City goal being disallowed when some refs would have deemed it legal, plus the fact that Chester must have seen a chance to play their greatest rivals at home when they're bottom of the pile as a real chance to break their dismal run of form, and Sunday couldn't have been much sweeter!

There's still a sense of confusion in realising I've never felt so happy at being three points behind Macclesfield though!

Broughton To Stay?

Always be wary of internet rumours, but I've heard a strong hint from MK Dons that Drewe Broughton will be signing until the end of the season with the intention to stay longer-I would assume depending on the outcome of the relegation struggle!

I hope that's true as losing him would be a huge blow. At last we have someone with the ability to make the ball stick up the right end of the pitch. We can't afford to lose him.

Glorious Mud!

A Midfield Scene From Wrexham v MK Dons

I miss the mud that helped us beat MK Dons and Darlington, and I want it back!

When it was sopping wet and cutting up against MK Dons and Darlington we seemed to thrive on it. Dry, rutted and smothered in sand today it just wouldn't let us play football and we struggled to piece our game together. If it doesn't improve soon we could find it a real handicap as we try to haul ourselves to safety.

Unable to pass as we would have wished, with touch players like Jeff Whitley and Danny Sonner struggling to come to terms with the surface, it was all a bit ugly and we were forced to launch more and more long stuff at Drewe Broughton.

That's not necessarily a bad idea as Broughton is a monster of a target man and will always create crumbs for players near him to feed off. However, it didn't click properly today in that respect either. I think a big part of the reason for this was the absence of Neil Roberts. We missed his whole-hearted commitment in midfield, as a few rousing lunges from him got the crowd going against Darlington and MK Dons, setting the tone early on. Not only was his tigerish effort missed though, but he is able to get up and support Broughton, trying to latch onto the loose balls he creates. Sonner and Whitley are very good footballers, but they are not box-to-box midfielders, and quite apart from their natures as footballers, you can't ask either of them to try to get beyond Broughton due to age on Sonner's part and lack of match fitness in Whitley's.

So it just wouldn't all hang together today. Still, don't worry too much about it. It wasn't a performance, but it was a point, and every one we win might be crucial by the end of the season. Wouldn't the table look a lot better if we had scraped three extra draws from that awful succession of early season defeats we suffered earlier in the season?

Our games against Hereford, Rotherham, Barnet, Stockport and Shrewsbury all followed similar paths: we were drawing 0-0 at half time, and at the very least were the equal of our opponents. However, in the second half we conceded and, despite the fact that the other side didn't really show a great deal out of the ordinary, we were unable to respond and were beaten. Imagine if we'd drawn half of them; we'd be well and truly in the mix. So don't worry about dropping two points today; they're all small steps in the right direction.

It's Duffy Time!

With Drewe Broughton ineligible to play against his parent club on Saturday, is it time for Rob Duffy to show us what he can do?

Michael Proctor might disagree, as he has found some form from the bench, looks to be ahead of Duffy in the pecking order, and having drawn compliments from Little about the way he has knuckled down and impressed the boss, might feel that it's only right that he should get the nod.

However, if Little makes the decision based on the balance of the team rather than whose turn it should be next, then surely Duffy gets the nod. Having Broughton up front has made a big difference; he's big and awkward and makes the ball stick up front, allowing our creative players to get around him and hurt the opposition. Furthermore, even if he can't win the ball, he makes it difficult for the opposing defenders to get it away.

Duffy looks to be cut from a similar cloth. He doesn't have the physical presence of Broughton, but he does have strength and also brings and ability to take free kicks and penalties to the party. He has also scored twice in each of his reserve games since arriving from Oxford, and there must surely be a curiosity on Little's part to see how he shapes up in the Football League.

It's harsh on Proctor, but surely this is Duffy's moment.