MK Dons 2 Wrexham 1

THE luck of the Irish was conspicuous by its absence for Wrexham boss Brian Carey in Milton Keynes on St Patrick’s Day where promotion-chasing MK Dons benefited from two extremely dubious refereeing decisions to condemn Wrexham to yet another damaging defeat.

The Dragons, who had two players sent off in their last outing against Bury, were reduced to 10 men for almost an hour of the game at the National Hockey Stadium after defender Lee Roche was shown a second yellow card for handling a shot from Dons’ midfielder Keith Andrews, who scored from the penalty spot to cancel out an early strike from Lee McEvilly.

Just how tough it was on Wrexham was emphasised by home team boss Martin Allen, who compared the unlucky Roche to television’s bionic Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin.

“He handballed and it was inside the box,” he said afterwards.

“But from where I was, one of our players kicked the ball and at that moment in time it was probably going at about 177 miles an hour in about half a yard and it hit the Wrexham player on the hand.

“How the bloke is supposed to get his hand out of the way of that I don’t know, he’d have to be Steve Austin to do that.”

Allen went on to point out that his side had two further penalty appeals, both more credible, turned down during the afternoon but admitted he had not questioned his players too closely about the 85th minute winner, which was credited to Clive Platt.

Wrexham’s players were adamant that the striker’s header in a goalmouth scramble did not cross the line, claiming instead that the ball hit a post and was then pushed away by goalkeeper Mike Ingham.

But a linesman signalled otherwise and referee Keith Hill, whose overall performance was erratic enough to attract abuse from all sections of the ground, allowed the goal to stand.

To further compound Wrexham’s woes, defender Danny Williams and Ingham picked up injuries that could sideline them for a couple of weeks at least and, having used all three substitutes, the visitors were forced to play the last few minutes with nine men, Simon Spender taking over between the posts.

It was, all in all, a frustrating afternoon for the Dragons, but manager Brian Carey and his players can’t ignore the fact that once more they were turned over by a goal in the final 10 minutes of the game and, as a result, find themselves back in one of the two relegation places, albeit with a game in hand over most of their rivals.

But defender Shaun Pejic said there was nothing to be gained from blaming the match officials for the outcome and insisted spirits remain high.

“We are disappointed with the final result, but the performance was full of spirit and we battled well,” he said. “Results elsewhere went against us a little bit but we can’t afford to dwell on that.

“The sending-off was very harsh and I didn’t think their second goal was over the line, but obviously I am biased. Having said that there’s nothing we can do about it now and we just have to look ahead to the next game.

“We are still very positive and we know we deserved more from the game than we got, but sometimes when you are in the situation we are, the luck you need is not forthcoming.

“If that changes a bit more in our favour, we remain confident that we’re playing the right way and doing the right things that will eventually bring results.”

The match officials apart, the afternoon’s other major influence was a stiff breeze that was behind Wrexham from the start but became an additional weapon in the home side’s armoury as they cranked up the pressure during the second period.

After an early scare when Dons’ danger man Izale McLeod found space in the second minute but was thwarted by Ingham’s smothering save, the Dragons were neat, competitive and enterprising on the ball and they were boosted by an 11th minute goal.

Jeff Whitley won possession and played the ball through for Neil Roberts, who drew a defender before unselfishly laying it off for McEvilly to finish at the far post and claim his fourth goal in three games.

Mark Jones, deployed on the left of a four-man midfield, cut inside to try his luck and was not far away with a typical effort from distance before Roberts, who was linking the play well, then caused the home defence more problems, although neither McEvilly nor Spender was able to make it count.

Little wonder then that the visitors were rocked by the 34th minute penalty that hauled Dons back into the game and the furious Wrexham players were further put out shortly afterwards when a sly dig by Gary Smith on Robbie Garrett merely earned the culprit a stern ticking off from Mr Hill.

With Spender filling the vacancy left by Roche’s exit, McEvilly was forced to drop back into midfield, leaving Roberts to go it alone up front and when the sides changed round at the break it was always going to be one-way traffic.

Within two minutes Ingham’s goal was under threat, but a delightful chip by Jon-Paul McGovern came back off the crossbar and McLeod’s tap-in was ruled illegal by a linesman’s flag.

A well-worked corner routine so nearly paid off for the home side in the 54th minute, Dean Lewington fizzing a volley from the edge of the box just past an upright and the woodwork again came to Wrexham’s rescue in the 66th minute to deny Smith what would have been a spectacular finish.

The relentless assault took its toll on Garrett – an immense influence for the Dragons since his arrival from Stoke City – who finally ran out of the boundless energy he has contributed.

Fans favourite Danny Williams was also forced off with a recurrence of a back injury as the visitors struggled to hold back the tide.

The home side’s response was the introduction of a third striker in Leon Knight, who went close to breaking the deadlock with a fine shot on the turn from McLeod’s knock-down.

But Wrexham continued to thwart their opponents until, with the finishing post in sight, Platt popped up to net the controversial winner in the 85th minute.

And as the game moved into added time, Ingham was injured in a tangle with Platt, whose lob cleared the keeper but bounced inches wide of the unguarded Dragons net.