DRAGONS: WE'LL KEEP OUR FEET ON THE GROUND
Mark Currie - Daily Post

WREXHAM manager Brian Carey refused to be carried away by his side's encouraging performance against Premiership visitors Blackburn Rovers at the Racecourse last night, pointing out that the majority of his players on show had played only 45 minutes.

But he admitted youngster Neil Taylor, a promising young defender, had impressed again and had some encouragement for three trialists who were also involved at some stage.

"It was another good run-out for everyone and it took us a step further on than we were on Saturday," he said. "We asked the lads to work hard and that's what they did. But it's one thing doing it for 45 minutes and the next target is for them to be able to do it for 90 minutes."

Returning to his hometown, Rovers boss Mark Hughes paraded a line-up fit for a Premiership match and the crowd were generous in their welcome for another prodigal son, Robbie Savage, back in action for the first time since breaking his leg at Watford in January.

And the former Wales boss declared himself satisfied with the workout as the Ewood Park outfit prepare for their Inter Toto Cup matches that take place towards the end of the month.

"It's the first game of the season and we obviously made a lot of changes in the second half which affected the rhythm of the game, but I was very pleased with the first 45 minutes," he said.

"With the Inter Toto game in mind I kept some of the senior players on longer than would normally be the case because we haven't got a great deal of time to prepare, and it was important for Robbie Savage and Andre Ooijer to get some pitch time.

"They wanted to stay on for a bit longer but 45 minutes was exactly what they needed."

A competitive edge, conspicuous by its absence against Liverpool last Saturday, surfaced after only 10 minutes when Taylor floored England under-21 international David Bentley and received a retaliatory kick for his impudence, forcing referee Mike Jones to wag his finger.

It was an isolated clumsy incident in what was a promising start for Wrexham, who gave a first run-out to trialists Chris Simms, a striker from Leigh RMI, and Swedish teenage winger Robin Kacaniklic, both obviously eager to impress.

Said Carey: "I thought they all contributed well. The two strikers give us something different from the players we have here and Robin is only 18 so it was a big ask for him, but he showed some nice touches."

Equally apparent was the fact that the Dragons were far more comfortable in a 4-4-2 formation as they knocked the ball around with confidence to dominate the opening quarter of the game. Marc Williams forced Brad Friedel into a smart 25th-minute save following a neat interchange between Danny Williams and Chris Llewellyn.

But after coping admirably with the threat of Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy to that point, the home defence suffered a collective loss of concentration which was exploited by Roberts to telling effect when he opened the scoring in the 27th minute, and Rovers doubled their lead eight minutes later after the striker was clumsily brought down by Richard Hope for a penalty converted by Savage.

For the second game in a row it was virtually all-change for the Dragons at the break, only Simms continuing, while the visitors contented themselves with four substitutions from the restart. And it proved a smart decision to persevere with the non-league man as he bustled his way through the middle of the park before unselfishly laying the ball off for Kaid Mohamed to pull a goal back in the 52nd minute.

The pace of the game was noticeably quicker than in the opening period and Wrexham tried to press home their momentum with winger Matty Done prominent in the action, but the clearest chance of an equaliser fell to defender Mike Williams following some quick thinking by Conall Murtagh. Williams, however, looked for support and rolled the ball behind the incoming Neil Roberts.

But the move was an indication of the home side's intent, with Murtagh building on what was an impressive debut at the weekend, and his prompting combined with a neat flick from Roberts presented Done with an inviting opportunity which he blazed over the bar. Almost immediately the youngster then found himself one on one with Friedel, but again opted to cut the ball back, much to the relief of the Rovers defence.