Wrexham season to continue after vote
WREXHAM’S National League campaign will continue after clubs voted to carry on with the season.
There has been growing uncertainty over the 2020-21 campaign because of the coronavirus pandemic and clubs being told that future funding to get them through the crisis will be issued in the form of loans and not grants.
That led to clubs voting to decide whether the season continues or is declared null and void.
The level below Wrexham, National League North and South will be cancelled, but premier non-league football is set to go on.
That’s good news for Wrexham, up to sixth in the table and unbeaten in six games heading into today’s clash at Aldershot (3pm).
Dior Angus is hoping to continue his scoring form after opening his account as Dean Keates’ side beat Woking 2-0 in midweek.
“I am delighted to get my first goal and it was a good win as well,” said Angus.
“We didn’t play the best we know we can but sometimes you have just got to find a way to win and we did.
“For me, it is just that patience and knowing what you are doing is right, and keep doing it.
“Like I said, goals will come and it has started so hopefully more goals and a win against Aldershot.”
Angus is yet to taste defeat since signing for Wrexham and he feels he is developing a good partnership with Kwame Thomas.
“It is going to take time to build a partnership but it is starting to come together now so that it is good to see,” said Angus.
Angus, who won the title with Barrow last season, wants to maintain the feelgood factor generated by the club’s high profile takeover by staying on course for a second successive promotion.
“It is a good place to be,” added Angus. “They are exciting times but no matter what is going on off the pitch, we have just got to keep delivering on it and then the skies the limit.
“We have just got to keep plugging away.”
Manager Keates is hoping to start the second half of the season with a win.
“We are not quite where we want to be but we will do our best to get to where we want to be in the second half of the season,” he said.
“We sat down at the beginning of the season and talked about our objectives and what we want to achieve, and where we want to be.
“We are not quite on the points where we want to be so the next batch of games, we have got to pick up some points and claw a few points back that we have not got.”
YOUNGSTER Josh Thomas is handed the No.10 shirt for the Ospreys’ Guinness PRO14 assignment against Zebre in Swansea tonight (5.15pm).
With Stephen Myler sitting the game out, 20-year-old Thomas takes over the controls alongside Rhys Webb, who is named as skipper.
It is a big opportunity for the former Swansea RFC player.
The Ospreys believe he has the potential to come through and are investing a lot of time and effort in him, with four top-grade number 10s aiding his development at the Liberty.
Myler, Gareth Anscombe, Brock James and James Hook are all assisting the youngster – the latter two as coaches.
“I’m pretty lucky,” says Thomas, who played for Wales U20s last season.
“There are some quality tens around me at the Ospreys and it’s up to me just to try and pick their brains.
“The one thing they all had, and which I’m trying to learn, is the ability to control a game. It’s about being able to manage things under pressure, make the right call and not panic.
“Stephen and Gareth do that now on the field, just as Brock and James did when they were playing. I’m still listening and learning.”
It’s a show of faith in the youngster from the Ospreys, given how well Myler has been playing.
But with Webb at scrum-half, the Liberty region are optimistic Thomas will thrive.
It’s a strength-in-depth test for Toby Booth’s side, who are missing their Wales Six Nations players. Four Welsh squad members have been released to the regions, but none of them are Ospreys players.
Sam Parry provides experience, though, alongside fellow internationals Webb, Dan Evans, Luke Morgan, Ma’afu Fia and Sam Cross.
Zebre beat the Ospreys 23-17 earlier in the season, with Booth saying this week: “The first half in that game was probably the worst half of rugby we have produced since I’ve been here.
“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and couldn’t climb it.
“Every coach talks about learnings and there was a lot of learning from that match. The challenge for us is whether we can right the wrong of that result.”
Garyn Phillips will make his Ospreys debut if he comes off the bench in a game that’s being shown live on S4C.
OSPREYS: D Evans; M Protheroe, T Thomas-Wheeler, K Williams, L Morgan; J Thomas, R Webb (c); G Thomas, S Parry, M Fia, L Ashley, R Davies, O Cracknell, S Cross, M Morris. Reps: I Phillips, G Phillips, T Botha, W Griffiths, G Evans, S Venter, J Hawkins, K Giles.
ZEBRE: M Biondelli; P Bruno, T Boni, E Lucchin, M Bellini; A Rizzi, N Casilio; D Rimpelli, O Fabiani, E Bello, M Kearney, I Nagle, L Masselli, P Leavasa, R Giammarioli. Reps: M Ceciliani, P Buonfiglio, M Nocera, L Krumov, S Ortis, A Fuscco, P Pescetto, J Elliott.
REFEREE: Nigel Owens (WRU).