Wrexham continue to climb as Cardiff stumble: Welsh football weekend round-up
It was a tough weekend for the Welsh sides in the EFL, with only Wrexham securing a win, as Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea were all beaten.
Let’s dig into a chastening weekend and assess the fall out from those defeats.
Windass penalty keeps Wrexham climbing
Starting with the good news story of the weekend, Wrexham rediscovered their home form with a 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic. Josh Windass’ spot kick was the only thing to separate the sides at Cae Ras, but Phil Parkinson will not mind.
The victory is Wrexham’s third successive home win in the Championship and sees the Welsh side extend their unbeaten league run on home soil to five matches.
“The atmosphere now and the feeling in the stadium is what we’ve been used to,” Parkinson said.
“In those early games, we didn’t quite create that intensity in our play. We had some really good periods in all of those games, but we got punished in key moments.
“The Oxford game, I thought the support was great. Coventry, as we spoke about, it was special, and today, what an atmosphere.
“We’ve always spoken about making this place difficult for the opposition to play and I think we’ve got it where we need it to be. We’ve got to keep it there.
“That comes with the supporters playing their part like they’ve done today, but also the manner of the performance, the physicality, Issa [Kabore] typifies that in his fighting spirit and defenders winning headers when they needed to.
“Teams know if they come to Wrexham, they’re in for a tough afternoon.”
With his side now only four points away from the play-offs, Wrexham are looking upwards.
Cardiff defensive woes continue against resurgent Blackpool
Cardiff’s inconsistency continued on the weekend as they lost 3-1 to a Blackpool side still in the relegation zone. Despite a horror start to the League One season, Ian Evatt’s appointment at Bloomfield Road has seen them win both games since.
City boss Brian Barry-Murphy described his side’s 3-1 defeat at Blackpool as a “very disappointing result”.
The Bluebirds could not capitalise on a number of first half chances and Ashley Fletcher’s two goals and a third from Tom Bloxham put paid to their hopes before Yusuf Salech’s late consolation.
“We created a lot of chances throughout the course of the game,” Barry-Murphy said.
“The way that we play and the way we attack is not an excuse for us to defend the moments we had to defend in the manner we did. We’ve got to be as disciplined a team in defence as we are in attack and today we weren’t.
“Today wasn’t good enough – we have to swallow that today, accept it, feel the pain of it and come back stronger and be better.”
Swansea taught a lesson by Ipswich
Alan Sheehan had to face questions concerning his future at the club, such was the manner of Swansea’s 4-1 home defeat to Ipswich on Saturday.
Swansea trailed 1-0 at the break after an abject first-half display before Goncalo Franco levelled as Sheehan’s team rallied early in the second period.
But two second-half own goals from Ipswich old boy Cameron Burgess and a header from Ivon Azon completed a miserable afternoon for Swansea, who were booed off at half-time and full-time.
When asked whether he is the right man to take Swansea forward, Sheehan said: “Yes, I believe I am. Of course I do [believe that].”
“I think that nothing good comes easy. I think where we are within football, every manager goes through spells where they don’t win consistently. You need to be very strong. You need to be confident and believe in what you do, and I do believe that.”
The Swans are clear of the relegation zone at the moment but just one win in six has ramped up the pressure on Sheehan.
Newport home form remains a worry
Newport’s mini revival in the FA Cup and League Two came crashing to a halt on Saturday as they fell to a 4-2 home defeat to promotion contenders Walsall.
Since a 1-1 draw with Notts County on the opening day of the season, Newport have lost every home league game this season, conceding 16 goals and scoring just six.
Despite the dismal home form, David Hughes remains positive that his side is slowly going in the right direction.
“Disappointed would be an understatement because for spells we’ve more than matched them, but it’s no point doing it for spells,” Hughes said.
“The game is 95 minutes and we need to be capable of doing that for significantly longer than we did. We’re hugely disappointed because I feel as if we’ve thrown away – when you watch the goals back – what momentum we were building.
“We still created opportunities in the second half. Disappointed for sure, but what’s the positive? Right to the death we’re trying to find a way – we didn’t – but that shows the level of resilience within the squad.”
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