DIVISION TWO: Brentford 3 Wrexham 0
ANOTHER defeat plus an early Christmas card for hot-head striker Lee Trundle leaves Wrexham swirling deep in relegation waters.
They remain third from bottom and are now five points behind Bury, who are in the cut-off safety spot but Wrexham have played a game more.
Trundle's red card for elbowing mean he will miss an automatic three games over the holiday period. He protested his innocence but manager Denis Smith saw it differently and intends fining his striker.
Smith said, "I think the lad made a meal of it, but Trundle deserved to go. I'm also disappointed because again we have given goals away. I thought in the first half we showed a lot of character and at half-time I was reasonably pleased. But once the second goal had gone in and we went down to 10 men it was difficult."
Trundle's sending-off made no difference to the score because by then the Dragons had been well and truly slain.
Brentford put them to the sword as early as the fifth minute when another horrendous error cost Wrexham a goal. The Bees swarmed forward with Lloyd Owusu always buzzing about menacingly and when he outpaced Brian Carey, Wrexham goalkeeper Kristian Rogers raced out and between them got tangled up, leaving Steve Hunt the simple task of rolling the ball in.
Wrexham came back with spirit and determination with their three-man midfield working tirelessly for an equaliser.
Waynne Phillips put in an energetic performance with good support from Wales Under-21 international Stephen Thomas and also from Martyn Chalk.
Wrexham had much the better of the remainder of the first half and only a superb double save by goalkeeper Oli Gottskalksson denied Shaun Holmes an equaliser and then a follow up effort from Andy Morrell.
Steve Roberts produced the tackle of the game to halt Owusu just before the break but then it all went hopelessly wrong for Wrexham in the second half.
Dangerman Owusu put Ben Burgess through to make it 2-0 in 50 minutes and before under-pressure Wrexham recovered from that, Ivar Ingimarsson made it 3-0.
Trundle then saw red after elbowing defender Michael Dobson, even if he did make a meal of the offence.
Wrexham introduced veteran Kevin Russell and Kevin Sharp but by then it was damage limitation and only the woodwork rescued them from another goal.
Substitute Mark Williams raced through in stoppage time to hammer a shot beyond Rogers's dive but it came back out off the crossbar.
Spiralling Wrexham have won only two of their last 12 matches and directors surely must now try and make some cash available for Smith to at least get an experienced goalkeeper sooner rather than later.
Rogers and David Walsh are swapping the jersey but both are still on a learning curve which Wrexham can ill afford in their present position.
