Championship - Friendlies: Wolves lose at Wrexham

Eurosport - Sun, 13 Jul 14:17:00 2008

Wolves' pre-season preparations got off to an inauspicious start as they lost 1-0 to Wrexham at The Racecourse Ground.

FOOTBALL 2008 Wolves players look dejected after the friendly defeat against Wrexham - 0

A goal from Wes Barnes was enough to seal victory for the Welsh side, who were relegated from the Football League at the end of last season.

Pim Balkestein was thrilled to score on his first appearance for Ipswich Town as the Blues beat Brentford 2-0 in their friendly at Griffin Park.

The Dutch defender, who joined Town from Heerenveen in the summer, took just 59 minutes of his debut to find the net when he headed Chris Casement's cross past Bees keeper Simon Brown.

England Under-19 international Danny Haynes secured the win with a second seven minutes later.

Balkestein told the club's official website: "It is great to score in my first match for the club. It is good for my confidence and I enjoyed the game.

"We played some good football, especially in the second half and maybe we should have won by more goals."

Young striker David McGoldrick bagged a hat-trick as Southampton secured a 5-2 friendly win over Basingstoke Town.The 20-year-old, who is hoping to play a big part under new boss Jan Poortvliet this season, struck in the first half to double Saints' tally after fellow youngster Adam Lallana had opened the scoring.

Bradley Wright-Phillips added a third after the break before McGoldrick found the net twice to secure a comfortable win.

New signings Lee Holmes and Tommy Forecast both featured along with established first-teamers such as Wright-Phillips, Andrew Surman and Wayne Thomas.

Preston North End opened their pre-season campaign with a convincing 11-0 victory over Austrian outfit FC Erdal Hallein . Neil Mellor led the way with a second-half hat-trick, while Richard Chaplow added two.

Brett Ormerod, Karl Hawley, Matt Hill, Darren Carter, Youl Mawene and Simon Whaley were also on target.

TEAMtalk / Eurosport

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  1. What about Wolves buying Wes Barns at least they may then cause some trouble at free kicks, something they have been incapable of doing for years.

    From Boddo, on Mon 14 Jul 7:27PM

  2. I know it was only a pre-season friendly but Wrexham thoroughly deserved their win, okay they both changed teams 2nd half but the two teams Wrexham put out were better than the two teams Wolves put out. Wolves had near enough their full first team out in the 1st half and yet it was Wrexham who had most of the play with Wrexham`s new lad up front causing all sorts of problems for Wolves defence as they couldn`t or didn`t know how to handle him. The goal by Wes Baynes , a free kick from 30 odd yards out was thundered into the top corner, even Petr Cech would not have stopped that, probably the best free kick scored at the Racecourse in the past 20 years. If you get chance to watch it then you will know what I mean, absolutely awesome. I thought Wolves were very poor, even though it was a friendly if I supported Wolves then I would be disgusted with that performance and I bet the thousand and odd fans that came to watch them were not happy either.

    From superbfootylive, on Mon 14 Jul 7:22PM

  3. This may be a preseason friendly but what a disgrace to lose to a team like Wrexham!
    I beleive that Wolves will not even achieve last seasons league position, in fact the last two seasons thae have "over achieved"
    The basis fact is that the management structure, scouting system and team management is second rate. How can you spend 1.5m on a player and then discover after you have bought him that he does not meet the desired criteria?
    Freddy Eastwood will prove MM wrong, he will be the Championship leading scorer next season and we shall whatch Coventry and Birmingham be the latest Midlands clubs to leave Wolves behind.
    Or Maybe losing to Wrexham is all part of the master plan towards the premiership.

    From Boddo, on Mon 14 Jul 3:29PM
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