Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 1

Last updated : 24 March 2007 By Footymad Previewer
A late header from Jeff Whitley gave Wrexham the win which keeps alive their hopes of avoiding the drop to the Conference.

He found space in a crowded box to send Shaun Pejic's cross out of keeper Steve Phillips' reach.

It was only the Red Dragon's second win in 17 matches and they are still in the bottom two but the victory was even more remarkable because they were without six regulars, four of them suspended.

Dejected Rovers had been hoping for a third home win in eight days to close in on seventh-placed Wycombe who now lead them by six points.

For all their troubles Wrexham were always willing to carry the game to Rovers, winning five corners in the first 20 minutes.

They looked dangerous whenever Mark Jones, operating behind the front pair of Lee McEvilly and Neil Roberts, was on the ball. But, slowed by an injury, he failed to come out for the second half.

Jones had fired in Wrexham's two best attempts while he was on the pitch, the first drawing an alert near post save by Phillips after a mistake by Sam Oji, the young central defender Rovers have borrowed from Birmingham City.

Rovers' middle line had more to offer with the return of skipper Stuart Campbell from suspension and Sam Igoe from injury.

Having got through a tricky period Rovers had a spell on top as the runs by Lewis Haldane on the right gave their attack more direction.

He should have tucked away a volley he teed up for himself on the penalty spot, but Tony Williams, the keeper newly borrowed from Carlisle United, deflected it with his outstretched right arm.

Matt Done, who replaced Jones, quickly set up a far post header which McEvilly put onto the bar. It was a bad miss but it soon took a good save by Phillips to keep out a Roberts volley as Wrexham began to dominate the second half.