Pre Season ends in draw with Wrexham XI

The Nomads pre season campaign of 2015 ended with a 2-2 draw against a Wrexham XI on Sunday afternoon. Nick Rushton and Les Davies both scored on their home debut, with Wrexham's Jordan Davies and an own goal from Chris Rimmer ensuring a draw.

This was a much anticipated game for many of The Nomads' faithful who finally had the chance to see The Nomads play at Deeside, with most of the pre season campaign spent at the likes of Conwy, Porthmadog and Stockport. The Nomads started a strong side, similar to the one that began the game at Warrington a week earlier, with the notable addition of latest signing Les Davies upfront.

The game began with a lively and competitive edge that remained throughout the 90 minutes. This was demonstrated when Sean Smith made a fair 50/50 tackle, before Les Davies was fouled around eight yards from the Wrexham area. Callum Morris took the subsequent free kick which sailed safely into the keeper's hands.

The Nomads' new signing Les Davies was keen to impress his new home crowd and did so when he made a run down the right wing, beat his man and had his effort go narrowly wide. A tenacious Wrexham side exerted pressure on The Nomads' goal and broke through the defence to force Danby to save, yet the chance was void via the offside flag.

The Nomads' forwards of Ruane and Davies both showed their ability to hold the ball up inside the Wrexham area as they searched for the breakthrough. This was found minutes later when Nick Rushton made the most of a Les Davies flick on, running on to goal to slot the ball into the bottom left corner and score on his Deeside debut in the 17th minute.

This lead would only last for six minutes when former Nomads scholar Jordan Davies found himself in a great position just inside The Nomads' box, and caught John Danby off his line with a lobbed effort which looped into the bottom right corner of the goal in what was a worthy equaliser for the away side.

With the scores level, the teams reflected this in an evenly sided game. The Wrexham XI had a great chance when they cut into The Nomads' area and saw an effort roll parallel with the goal line before Callum Morris of The Nomads saw a shot go just wide. Nick Rushton tried to lob the Wrexham 'keeper and was nearly successful, the attempt landing on the roof of the net. Les Davies also continued his efforts to get on the score sheet with a half volley which went just past the post.

After the interval, The Nomads came out of the stocks first with an assault on the Wrexham goal that saw Les Davies have a shot cleared off the line which fell to Miller who subsequently hit the post, followed by Morris striking the ultimate effort wide. The Deeside crowd may have began to expect an inevitable Nomads goal when minutes later Sean Miller performed a bicycle kick that went just wide. In the makings of a great pre season game, The Nomads were worked hard by Wrexham XI.

The Nomads eventually went 2-1 up thanks to Les Davies' debut goal, when Callum Morris sent a corner ball into a packed box from which Davies rose up and headed home. This was received well by all Nomads at Deeside, as Davies had been unlucky not to score earlier in the game.

The Nomads saw a switch in the defence when Smith and Horan departed for McIntyre and Linwood, but the real event of The Nomads' defensive game was an unfortunate error in the box during a Wrexham corner, when the cross deflected off Chris Rimmer and beat John Danby to send Wrexham level once again in the 65th minute.

Buoyed by their equaliser, Wrexham aimed to take the lead for the first time during the game and may have if not for Danny Harrison's clean dispossession of a striker just outside of The Nomads' area. This was not the only near-goal of Wrexham's game, with their third goal certain if not for Kieran Gaul's goal line clearance in the 78th minute.

In a final ten minutes which saw George Deniz replace John Danby for The Nomads, neither side could find the winning goal and referee Nick Pratt ended the game at 2-2.

This game heralded the end of the 2015 pre season campaign from which Nomads can look back on with positivity, winning three, losing two and drawing one that afternoon.

Following the full time whistle, Manager Allan Bickerstaff said "Fantastic game today - they were a strong side, Wrexham, but we did ever so well against them - great positives from it and we've worked on a lot of things during the week which they've carried out today which is good to see, so some good stuff there."

You can listen to Bickerstaff's full post match interview below.



From their training and games this summer the team now look solely onto next Saturday when the Dafabet Welsh Premier League 2015/16 begins at Deeside against Newtown AFC, for a 2:30pm kick off.

Match Photos