Jaiden Bartolo's on the bench for Gibraltar today, probably because he wasn't initially meant to be part of the team but was only added after an injury to another player while he proved he's almost back to fitness with an hour for Slough last week.
Not really used to seeing De Barr with #7, he's always worn #19 for the national team but I guess the new numbers represent the "new era" the national team is entering. Game can be watched without comms on YouTube thanks to viaplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB3ljL23NOk
And Huddersfield had a good goal disallowed for offside earlier in the game. And the obviously offside goal was preceded by an obvious foul. Yet that still wasn't as bad as the outrageous last minute decisions they got v Blackpool and Crawley though
As I said earlier in the thread, the EFL are getting what they wanted with a Wrexham triple promotion. I suspect they're just gutted that they couldn't fix the penalty shootout Vs Peterborough to result in a Birmingham Vs Wrexham Pizza Cup final.
Over a recent run of Bolton, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Reading, Wycombe, Stockport - Wrexham have 4 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw having scored only 4 goals and conceded 2. Extremely stingy.
Out of their remaining 8 fixtures they play 5 teams in the bottom half, whilst we play only two in the next 9.
Certainly feels like our last 4 "tough" games on paper won't be anywhere near as decisive as we feared.
Either 2nd will be gone, or hopefully most of that 4 are either safely in the playoffs with no chance of 2nd, or for the likes of Orient, probably failed to reach them and cannot do so.
You could say Wrexham's record is based on their defensive strength , they have a ridiculous number of clean sheets and are always still in games late.
Having the ref disallow perfectly good goals for the opposition and allow yours regardless of what you've done doesn't hurt though.
Merson on SSN talks a load of rubbish sometimes and barely has a positive thing to say about us but notes it was never a penalty and they couldn't have a better run in if they picked it themselves.
Whether it is the EFL or Ryan Reynolds (who is not a nice man, and willing to strongarm to get what he wants), something untoward has gone on this season.
I have a feeling it will be another "what-if" to add to another long line, which is quite surprising given these "what-ifs" have all happened during a golden period.
What if Uche and Taffs had not started the season injured for months.
What if we had not had that hideous string of bad ref decisions in the Champo.
What if Derby had been relegated that summer where we even had matching schedules in anticipation.
What if we had turned up against Sunderland in the final.
What if GA had stayed when we were on a run of five wins in a row and in 7th.
What if Blooms had been backed.
What if we had not been trying to get promotion the same time as Wrexham.
Not having a moan, but pointing out how many sliding doors situations have gone massively against us (some self-inflicted, obviously) even in the midst of our golden age.
The next time someone trots out the phrase 'there's no point arguing with the ref, they will never change their decision!' one can say 'yes they do, it happened on 22nd March 2025 at The Racecourse Ground.'
It's going to take both a dramatic downturn in form for Wrexham (when they now play arguably easier games than the past few weeks) and a massive upturn in our form at the same time for us to stand a chance.
Wrexham will drop points somewhere along the way, we're still well in this. Burton at home sticks out as a tough fixture. Burton are on form and scrapping for every point towards the bottom.
We absolutely have to beat Lincoln and Shrewsbury in our next 2. Do that and that will give us some momentum going into our tough run in.
I think about all of these things too and it makes me so angry, especially Derby County's disgraceful behaviour, and those awful refereeing decisions we got in the Championship.
Having said that, the biggest sliding doors moment in Wycombe history probably happened at the Memorial Ground on the last day of the 2014 season. Rovers hit the woodwork three times and it bounced out three times, whereas Colin Daniel's shot hit the inside of the post and went in the net. So we can always be thankful for that
Hope you're right. Though Burton home is probably one i'd think Wrexham won't slip up in. They'll win 1-0 with an untidy goal and scuffle the rest of the game out. But some of their aways maybe.
If that situation arises, as looks likely, we’ll have to cross our fingers that it’s Wrexham in second place. Having to play them in the playoffs doesn’t bear thinking about.
I'm sure at the time a couple of posters were trying to say we weren't hard done by.
But just that Horgan offside v Derby at 0-0 that was miles onside, and then them scoring late on was enough. The turnover in that game aside would have kept us up.
Yes indeed! Ben Foster has also admitted he dived to get one of the two JJ corner goals disallowed early in the season. Then there was a Norwich dive for a free-kick in the last minute (when they had actually fouled Fred) among others.
It really was a season where everything possible went wrong - and yet we only went down by a couple of points! An absolute masterpiece from GA and Dobbo.
We also had JJ's corner disallowed for nothing at home to Millwall near the start of the season. A blatant penalty and red card to Sheffield Wednesday missed at Hillsborough. Kashket's last minute equaliser at home to Coventry was wrongly disallowed for offside. Plus Brentford winning the most outrageous penalty ever to go 3-2 up against us (although they ended up winning that one 7-2).
It was an unbelievable season of refereeing decisions against us that year. Arguably even more absurd than Wrexham's run this season
I had definitely given up any hope of staying up after those 6-7 defeats at the start of the season and the way we seemed to have totally been unprepared, playing a vet Bloomfield and Pattison centre mid early on.
But the way they devised a system that worked brilliantly and brought some excellent loanees in was real magic. Uche was unplayable on his day too, and like you say him being out even say 1month less would have been a game changer.
If only Rob C had opened his chequebook and bought The Player all of this would be academic.
I'm not one for conspiracies but referees might not like to be seen in a popular Disney documentary making decisions that derail the narrative for Season Four.
Having said that we should have buried Wrexham and we didn't. Big day for gum chewing next week...
I see over the years debatable decisions have become outright fact.
No-one ever remembers decisions that went for us, not ones that went against other teams in other games.
Wrong decisions are annoying. Have a good old moan at the time then move on. Trotting them out years later makes us sound like the current crop of Arsenal fans who are surely the most tedious in football history
Comments
Jaiden Bartolo's on the bench for Gibraltar today, probably because he wasn't initially meant to be part of the team but was only added after an injury to another player while he proved he's almost back to fitness with an hour for Slough last week.
Not really used to seeing De Barr with #7, he's always worn #19 for the national team but I guess the new numbers represent the "new era" the national team is entering. Game can be watched without comms on YouTube thanks to viaplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB3ljL23NOk
And Huddersfield had a good goal disallowed for offside earlier in the game. And the obviously offside goal was preceded by an obvious foul. Yet that still wasn't as bad as the outrageous last minute decisions they got v Blackpool and Crawley though
As I said earlier in the thread, the EFL are getting what they wanted with a Wrexham triple promotion. I suspect they're just gutted that they couldn't fix the penalty shootout Vs Peterborough to result in a Birmingham Vs Wrexham Pizza Cup final.
Yet oddly, Wrexham have only had 2 pens all season - and even today's one they missed! Before the luck of the rebound going through the keeper's legs!
Oh well, we still have a good squad, and it's still in our hands on goal difference.
We'll certainly have to win 2 in a row for the first time in quite a while though!
Over a recent run of Bolton, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Reading, Wycombe, Stockport - Wrexham have 4 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw having scored only 4 goals and conceded 2. Extremely stingy.
Out of their remaining 8 fixtures they play 5 teams in the bottom half, whilst we play only two in the next 9.
The fat lady is warming up her vocals.
Certainly feels like our last 4 "tough" games on paper won't be anywhere near as decisive as we feared.
Either 2nd will be gone, or hopefully most of that 4 are either safely in the playoffs with no chance of 2nd, or for the likes of Orient, probably failed to reach them and cannot do so.
You could say Wrexham's record is based on their defensive strength , they have a ridiculous number of clean sheets and are always still in games late.
Having the ref disallow perfectly good goals for the opposition and allow yours regardless of what you've done doesn't hurt though.
Merson on SSN talks a load of rubbish sometimes and barely has a positive thing to say about us but notes it was never a penalty and they couldn't have a better run in if they picked it themselves.
Yep, the run in they have is picture perfect. They'll finish 4-5 points ahead of us.
Whether it is the EFL or Ryan Reynolds (who is not a nice man, and willing to strongarm to get what he wants), something untoward has gone on this season.
I have a feeling it will be another "what-if" to add to another long line, which is quite surprising given these "what-ifs" have all happened during a golden period.
Not having a moan, but pointing out how many sliding doors situations have gone massively against us (some self-inflicted, obviously) even in the midst of our golden age.
The next time someone trots out the phrase 'there's no point arguing with the ref, they will never change their decision!' one can say 'yes they do, it happened on 22nd March 2025 at The Racecourse Ground.'
Although Charlton's run, Huddersfield next up aside, looked brilliant. And they've just been smashed 3-0 today!
We've a week to get a few niggles back fit, re-assess how we're going to play and it'll all feel more positive next weekend.
We will have to win on a Saturday again though, and win 2 or more in a row again! Neither of which we seem to have done for a while!
Gibraltar have taken the lead in Montenegro.
It's going to take both a dramatic downturn in form for Wrexham (when they now play arguably easier games than the past few weeks) and a massive upturn in our form at the same time for us to stand a chance.
Start planning that play off campaign chaps.
No disrespect fella, but these Gibraltar posts don't really fit what needs to be a right old 30mins of ranting post that Wrexham disgrace.
Wrexham will drop points somewhere along the way, we're still well in this. Burton at home sticks out as a tough fixture. Burton are on form and scrapping for every point towards the bottom.
We absolutely have to beat Lincoln and Shrewsbury in our next 2. Do that and that will give us some momentum going into our tough run in.
Though going up at Wembley would definitely be more glorious than coming a distant 2nd to financially doped Birmingham.
But it would take an absolutely insanely positive poster to think we'd make it through them.
I think about all of these things too and it makes me so angry, especially Derby County's disgraceful behaviour, and those awful refereeing decisions we got in the Championship.
Having said that, the biggest sliding doors moment in Wycombe history probably happened at the Memorial Ground on the last day of the 2014 season. Rovers hit the woodwork three times and it bounced out three times, whereas Colin Daniel's shot hit the inside of the post and went in the net. So we can always be thankful for that
Hope you're right. Though Burton home is probably one i'd think Wrexham won't slip up in. They'll win 1-0 with an untidy goal and scuffle the rest of the game out. But some of their aways maybe.
If that situation arises, as looks likely, we’ll have to cross our fingers that it’s Wrexham in second place. Having to play them in the playoffs doesn’t bear thinking about.
I'm sure at the time a couple of posters were trying to say we weren't hard done by.
But just that Horgan offside v Derby at 0-0 that was miles onside, and then them scoring late on was enough. The turnover in that game aside would have kept us up.
Happened in our last game too
Yes indeed! Ben Foster has also admitted he dived to get one of the two JJ corner goals disallowed early in the season. Then there was a Norwich dive for a free-kick in the last minute (when they had actually fouled Fred) among others.
And when level v Brentford away I'm sure they got a scandalous pen, but because it ended up 7-2 or 7-3 or whatever it was, no-one cared.
And Pattison's red in one game...no wait that was a horrible lunge that was worth 2 reds🤣
It really was a season where everything possible went wrong - and yet we only went down by a couple of points! An absolute masterpiece from GA and Dobbo.
We also had JJ's corner disallowed for nothing at home to Millwall near the start of the season. A blatant penalty and red card to Sheffield Wednesday missed at Hillsborough. Kashket's last minute equaliser at home to Coventry was wrongly disallowed for offside. Plus Brentford winning the most outrageous penalty ever to go 3-2 up against us (although they ended up winning that one 7-2).
It was an unbelievable season of refereeing decisions against us that year. Arguably even more absurd than Wrexham's run this season
I had definitely given up any hope of staying up after those 6-7 defeats at the start of the season and the way we seemed to have totally been unprepared, playing a vet Bloomfield and Pattison centre mid early on.
But the way they devised a system that worked brilliantly and brought some excellent loanees in was real magic. Uche was unplayable on his day too, and like you say him being out even say 1month less would have been a game changer.
Fred involved on that occasion as well. Was moving out of the penalty area with the ball when a Brentford player ran into him.
If only Rob C had opened his chequebook and bought The Player all of this would be academic.
I'm not one for conspiracies but referees might not like to be seen in a popular Disney documentary making decisions that derail the narrative for Season Four.
Having said that we should have buried Wrexham and we didn't. Big day for gum chewing next week...
Yep, sticks out as a particularly bad call.
But hard to get people to take it seriously when seeing the final score.
I remember a similar argument with someone about the Lampard ghost goal v Germany when level - when we eventually then lost 4-1.
But any sane football fan knows these moments define games.
I see over the years debatable decisions have become outright fact.
No-one ever remembers decisions that went for us, not ones that went against other teams in other games.
Wrong decisions are annoying. Have a good old moan at the time then move on. Trotting them out years later makes us sound like the current crop of Arsenal fans who are surely the most tedious in football history