Soccer
Championship leaders Swansea fight out goalless draw with Welsh rivals Wrexham
Championship leaders Swansea and visitors Wrexham fought out a 0-0 draw in a passionate all-Welsh affair.
Chances were hard to come by on a night when the sold out signs went up at the Swansea.com Stadium and there was more graft than craft on show.
Neither goalkeeper was tested until Zan Vipotnik slid Moussa Yeo’s cross into the arms of Anthony Patterson nine minutes from time, while Kieffer Moore tested Swansea’s Lawrence Vigouroux in stoppage time.
Red Dragons boss Phil Parkinson might have felt Swansea should have been reduced to 10 by then following Ben Cabango’s lunge on Callum O’Hare.
Celebrity investors had stayed away with no sign of Swansea pair Snoop Dogg and Luka Modric or Wrexham co-owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds.
The Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir were present, though, and a rousing pre-match rendition of Max Boyce’s ‘Hymns and Arias’ lifted the crowd.
Swansea sat top of the table at kick-off with 10 points from four games and head coach Vitor Matos suggesting in his programme notes that they were building something special.
Wrexham had experienced a trickier start, but travelled in good spirits after recording a first win of the season at Millwall on Wednesday.
Both camps ignored the old adage of never changing winning teams – Swansea making three and Wrexham five – with the visitors handing a debut to O’Hare, a £6.5million deadline day signing from Sheffield United.
There was a lively start befitting of a derby with Ryan Longman leaving a calling card on Josh Key, much to the displeasure of Swansea supporters.
Swansea started the better and there were loud shouts for a penalty, at least from the home crowd, after 18 minutes.
Melker Widell played the ball into a central area and it struck the hand of Longman, but referee Elliot Bell was not interested.
Wrexham slowly settled, enjoyed greater possession and found space with raking diagonal balls.
One such pass from Callum Doyle released Danny Imray down the right and the wing-back got past Josh Tymon.
Imray’s cross found O’Hare in the box but he was quickly surrounded by Swansea defenders and the opportunity was lost.
The first genuine chance came five minutes after the restart when Sam Smith nodded Ben Whiteman’s pass into the path of O’Hare.
He took a good touch to create shooting space but his effort went across the face of goal.
Wrexham went close again when Josh Windass, one of four substitutes introduced after 62 minutes by Parkinson, drove into a congested penalty area and struck Max Cleworth before drifting wide.
Referee Bell was surrounded by angry Wrexham players after Cabango took out O’Hare on the touchline. But the verdict was a yellow card, not red, as Swansea took a one-point lead at the top.
