Histon 0 Wrexham FC 0
A SOLID defensive display laid the foundations for Wrexham FC who fought out a goal-less draw with Histon at The Glass World Stadium on Saturday.
Manager Dean Saunders was looking for a response from his players who had performed so poorly the previous weekend in the 2-0 defeat to Hayes & Yeading.
Young goalkeeper Chris Maxwell once again showed why he is keeping the fit-again Sam Russell out of the side with a composed performance, making one particularly impressive save in the first half.
Scoring goals still is a major problem that Saunders has to address if Wrexham are to keep climbing the table because, on the whole, he seems to have sorted things at the other end.
The draw at Histon means Wrexham are still 15th in the Blue Square Premier table, 14 points away from the play-offs but with one game in hand.
Saunders made two changes from the side that was beaten by Hayes & Yeading in the previous outing.
Frank Sinclair was brought back in place of the injured Silvio Spann, meaning Ashley Westwood switched to the right-back position.
That meant that Wrexham’s back line was made up of four centre-backs to counter Histon’s long ball tactics, and with Lamine Sakho serving the first of a three game suspension following his sending-off last weekend, Wes Baynes reverted to the left flank with Marc Williams earning a recall in attack.
It was an even start to the game that saw both defences on top, and Histon created the first scoring chance after 15 minutes when Gareth Gwillim delivered a corner and a header from the unmarked Nat Knight-Percival was brilliantly palmed away by Chris Maxwell.
Wrexham had not learned their lesson and when the resulting corner was only partially cleared, Adam Tann was also left in plenty of space and his free header struck the post.
All Wrexham had to show for their efforts were a couple of hopeful balls into the area that were comfortably dealt with by the Histon defence.
However, a 25th minute long clearance by Maxwell was flicked on by Gareth Taylor and Marc Williams saw his first shot blocked by a defender, while keeper Danny Naisbitt was alert enough to gather at the feet of the striker before he had another attempt on goal.
Histon right-back Lanre Oyebanjo’s cross almost found the back of the net on the half hour but the ball just cleared Maxwell’s bar, while Marc Williams’ drive was blocked at the other end when brother Mike’s cross was nodded down by Gareth Taylor.
A first Wrexham corner, taken by Baynes in the 32nd minute, was headed well over by Sinclair, while Mike Williams’ centre was cleared from the danger zone following a well worked move with a host of Reds’ players queuing up.
Baynes tried his luck from long range four minutes before the break following a slip in the Histon defence but his drive landed wide of the target as Wrexham finished the half the stronger of the two teams.
Gareth Gwillim’s low drive on 56 minutes was easily saved by Maxwell but neither side really looked like troubling the scoreline with few decent scoring opportunities.
Saunders made his first change after 66 minutes with Adrian Cieslewicz replacing Curtis Obeng, while Wrexham almost scored a fortunate goal when Smith’s cross took a deflection and almost looped over Naisbitt but the ball landed on the roof of the net.
Histon came close to taking the lead when Knight-Percival ran at goal but fired wide under pressure from Mansour Assoumani, but time was running out if either side was going to go on and clinch maximum points.
Andy Fleming’s 25-yard drive was deflected for a corner eight minutes from the end, and when Baynes’ corner was only partially cleared the midfielder’s cross to the back post was also turned behind by Naisbitt for a corner from which Ashley Westwood headed over the bar.
A mazy run by Oyebanjo ended when the right-back was upended on the edge of the area by Assoumani but thankfully the defender was only shown a yellow card as last man Mike Williams was covering.
The resulting free-kick from Gwillim three minutes from time was superbly saved by Maxwell while Gareth Taylor fired wide at the other end following Cieslewicz’s run from his own half.
Four minutes of injury time failed to produce a goal and each team had to be content with a point.