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WREXHAM'S TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO INTERNATIONAL Hector Sam proved too hot to handle for the Bury defence at Gigg Lane this afternoon as the visitors crushed the Shakers' early season optimism in twenty catastrophic first half minutes. Only days earlier, Andy Preece had called for consistency from his team, a weakness Bury suffered from last season, but as Wrexham's four goal rout battered their premature promotion hype, poor Bury's confidence was crushed. Sam grabbed the second and most important of the Wrexham goals. As Bury's central defenders Sam Collins and Chris Swailes left a huge gap down the centre of the pitch, Sam latched onto a Darren Ferguson through ball before beating Kenny with a composed yet powerful 17th minute finish. It could have been even worse for the Shakers though minutes later when Sam moved into a similar goalscoring position but was seemingly barged over by Collins inside the area - referee Laws however disagreed and waved play on. Indeed, each of Wrexham's four goals, although taken clinically and excellently, were partly the result of some slack defending on the part of Bury's back four - the same players who had won so much praise for their sterling work in the 1-0 win over Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium last week - how things had changed over seven short days. Craig Faulconbridge stole into the 18-yard box after just five minutes to stab an angled shot across Patrick Kenny to give the visitors an early lead, Danny Williams confounded Bury's misery with a superb long range effort after ghosting through the Shakers midfield unchallenged, but in between Faulconbridge had directed a Darren Ferguson free kick into the bottom corner with a deft header after Paul Barnes had prompted referee Laws into moving the ball forward ten yards through dissent. When Shakers manager Andy Preece made the 51st minute swap to remove Paul Barnes and Adrian Littlejohn in exchange for Baichung Bhutia and Dean Crowe, Bury's attacking play was revived for a short while - Crowe justifying the decision immediately by lashing a bouncing volley past Wrexham goalkeeper Kristian Rogers just after the hour mark - and Bhutia coming close with two audacious overhead kicks. Yet Bury's spinal frailty was emphasised soon afterwards by Williams' run and shot - both central midfielders and defenders failed to challenge for the ball and were punished by a goal which confirmed sad Bury's status on the day - second best. |
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