PYKE STRIKE RIFLES REDS
WREXHAM 1 HAVANT & W 0
WREXHAM carved out a narrow home win over lowly Havant & Waterlooville to maintain their top-four position.
Rekeil Pyke’s well-taken first-half strike was enough to secure all three points for the Dragons.
However, manager Sam Ricketts said the score did little to reflect their ruck of scoring opportunities, with visiting goalkeeper Ben Dudzinski preventing them from pulling further ahead.
“The hardest thing in football is to win games so I’m obviously delighted with,” he said. “The performance was good, but I probably just wanted to get the second goal which would have taken the sting out of the game. When you’re 1-0 up, the opposition are always in with a chance of a moment of magic, or a slip or a mistake and getting back into the game.
“We didn’t get the second goal purely because their keeper made four or five excellent saves.”
The Dragons struck the bar inside two minutes after a short corner that fell to Jordan Maguire-Drew, who saw his effort tipped on to the post by Dudzinski.
The winger hit the woodwork again about five minutes later after cutting in and curling an effort at goal.
The Hawks’ three-man defence gave the home side plenty of room to work with in attack and they broke the deadlock on the half-hour as Pyke marauded inside from the left wing.
The Huddersfield loanee showed good strength to hold the ball up before tucking it neatly inside the right post.
Wrexham looked to drive home their advantage as Luke Summerfield delivered a free-kick that was turned onto the post by Dudzinski.
Pyke went close shortly after, but the shot-stopper was again on hand to deny him.
Lee Bradbury’s men, who achieved one win in seven during September, set up to try to frustrate in the second half. They registered their first effort of note in the 53rd minute as Andreas Robinson fired wide from 25 yards out.
The second period was a dull affair, but Ricketts’ side were still pursuing a second.
Dudzinski pulled off yet another superb save to stop Pyke from short range.
The Dragons avoided a minor scare when Josh Huggins headed a free-kick wide. But they saw out the game in comfort for a second home victory in a week.
Hawks’ manager Lee Bradbury felt his team gave a positive account of themselves, adding: “I think we’ve come here today and given one of the much-fancied sides a good game, even though our goalkeeper was a different class today.” STAR MAN: Ben Dudzinski (Havant) ATT: 4,323 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Simon Mather 7/10