Wrexham 1, Swansea City 2

ON an evening when Wrexham fans could look forward with renewed optimism to a brighter future for their club, they had to settle for a second successive defeat in the FAW Premier Cup final.

That it came at the hands of League One promotion hopefuls Swansea City in a repeat scoreline of last season's clash at the Vetch Field was no disgrace for the Dragons, particularly after a brave and spirited second-half performance.

The League Two side had looked down and out after conceding two quick goals just before the break, but City were made to work extremely hard before they could celebrate their victory.

Home boss Denis Smith stuck with the side that beat Chester on Sunday, but his opposite number Kenny Jackett made two changes to field arguably his strongest-possible line-up, just four days ahead of the Swans' LDV Vans Trophy final..

Former Bangor City star Owain Tudur-Jones came in for Adrian Forbes and his first start since New Year's Eve, while striker Rury Fallon replaced Adebayo Akin-fenwa as both men pressed their claims for the Millennium Stadium showpiece.

The League One side, who spent £625,000 on four players during the January window to boost their promotion bid, unsurprisingly looked the more competent outfit on a difficult, heavy surface.

Goalmouth incidents, however, were extremely limited, Keith Lowe's long-range and off-target effort for the visitors after 16 minutes almost qualifying as a genuine chance.

With neither side displaying any great urgency and concentrating merely on avoiding any unforced errors, it was not until the final 10 minutes of the opening period that the dour contest finally sprang into life.

And the initial spurt was provided by the Dragons when Matt Derbyshire got the better of the visiting defence twice in as many minutes. His first effort from an acute angle was easily parried by Frenchman Willy Gueret, but the keeper could only watch when the teenager's second effort from 25 yards flew just too high.

The increased tempo was immediately matched by the Swans, who hit back in devstating fashion to score twice in the space of four minutes, although both goals owed something to mistakes by the home side.

There seemed little danger when Leon Britton broke to the by-line in the 37th minute, but defender Danny Williams didn't get a shout when he dived in to intercept and saw his attempted clearance skid into Mike Ingham's net.

And the visitors weren't content with that, stepping up the pace even more to double their advantage four minutes later. Former Racecourse idol Lee Trundle, booed every time he touched the ball, made space on the left for a shot which the keeper possibly should have held.

But the ball spilled free for Fallon to prod home the rebound and finally break his City duck after 14 games, prompting mass celebrations in the visitors' dug-out.

Faced with a mammoth task in not only making a game of it but also preventing a rout, Wrexham sent on Simon Spender from the restart in place of Dean Bennett and Williams was only a lick of paint away from making amends for his mistake with a 47th-minute header which flashed across the face of the Swans goal.

And another chance went begging in the 55th minute when Andy Holt's hanging cross was met by Sam Williams, whose close-range effort was somehow fumbled on to the roof of the net by Gueret.

Two minutes later the City keeper was tested again, going down to parry Holt's header from a Mark Jones cross, with the clearance being completed by Alan Tate as for the first time the home side began to exert some sustained pressure.

Swansea survived another scare in the 63rd minute when Dennis Lawrence picked his way deep into the opposing penalty area and from his low cross it needed a brave challenge by Wales international Sam Ricketts to deny Sam Williams what would have been a tap-in.

Pushing on so much, the home side were leaving gaps at the back, but Danny Williams and Lawrence combined well to snuff out a typical Trundle charge and when the striker did put the ball in the net, his effort was ruled out for offside.

There were still 20 minutes remaining when a tiring Ferguson was replaced by Jon Walters and almost immediately Wrexham closed the gap with a second goal of the season for Spender. Holt's long throw eluded everyone in the middle and fell to the young defender who coolly picked his spot.

But there was to be no fairy-tale ending for the home side, who must now concentrate all their efforts on securing a place in the end-of-season play-offs.

MAN OF THE MATCH : Andy Holt. The wing-back battled non-stop for 90 minutes

WREXHAM : Ingham; Pejic, D Williams, Lawrence; Bennett (Spender 45), Crowell, Ferguson (Walters 70), Mark Jones (Mackin 76), Holt; S Williams, Derbyshire. Subs: Michael Jones, M Williams.

SWANSEA CITY : Gueret; Tate, Monk, Lowe, Ricketts; Britton, O'Leary, Tudur-Jones, Robinson (Martinez 82); Fallon, Trundle. Subs: Akinfenwa, Forbes, T Williams, Knight. BOOKED: Tate, Trundle.

REFEREE: Ceri Richards

ATT : 3,032.

PLAYER RATINGS >>>>>>>>>>>>>

HOW THEY RATED

MIKE INGHAM

At fault for the second goal after spilling a cross by Lee Trundle Rating 6

DEAN BENNETT

Right wing-back struggled to contain both Robinson and Ricketts. Looked off the pace at times after his long injury lay-off and went off at half-time 6

SHAUN PEJIC

Good early tackling, always available for the ball 6

DANNY WILLIAMS

Solid at the back with Lawrence, won his aerial battles well and was unlucky to score an own goal

DENNIS LAWRENCE

Calming influence at the back. Often effective and a definite threat when going forward

ANDY HOLT

Industrious as ever and never gave up the cause. Found space well but his creativity was to no avail 8

DARREN FERGUSON

Solid performance but not able to dictate play as much as he would have liked 6

MATT CROWELL

Crowd-pleasing tackle on Trundle early on and put in a committed performance 6