Report by Steve Horton at The Racecourse Ground

The Rafael Benitez era got off to a winning start at the Racecourse last Wednesday night. A blend of youth and experience gave us a sound win, with one of the positive legacies of the Houllier years being a shining light.

Although none of the stars from Euro 2004 were ever going to be involved, interest in this game was huge. Rafa's first game and Cisse's debut was always going to be a big draw and there is the added fact that it's the only pre season game this side of the Atlantic. Hence there was a capacity crowd of 14,978 at the racecourse, with the 3000 Reds tickets being sold out within a couple of days.

Cisse was the main attraction and with his bleached hair and beard he was quite easy to spot. His first contribution came on two minutes when he crossed into the box but it was easily headed clear. His only shot on goal was a low drive that Dibble did well to save and he also showed his spectacular side with a great overhead kick from a tight angle.

Overall a well drilled offside trap limited Cisse's effectiveness, as did the fact we were playing a short passing game. His pace is his main asset and he really needs the ball played long and over the top. I don't want to sound negative but he'd have been a perfect Houllier signing, but now some work will need will need to be done by both sides.

However any player worth £14 million should be able to adapt and a coach as good as Benitez will get the best out of him. I suspect he may not make as immediate an impact as many hope however.

Despite it being a friendly both sides were well up for it with plenty of tackles flying in. Both Kewell and Cisse needed treatment but thankfully there was no long term damage. The home crowd were very muted though, probably because it was five times their normal turn out and none of them new how to get behind their team.

We had been controlling the game but Wrexham came out of their shell after 20 minutes and forced a couple of corners before some lack of communication in our defence allowed Hector Sam to fire them ahead.

Wrexham's lead was short lived and we were level just 4 minutes later. A great run by Igor Biscan was followed by a hard and low shot that Dibble could only parry, leaving Le Tallec with a simple tap in. It had been great work by the much vilified Igor, who now looks set to be used in his favoured central midfield position, although there's quite a bit of competition there.

Half time saw 10 substitutions being made, with only Le Tallec staying on. Presumably he would have been taken off too had Neil Mellor not been declared injured on the day of the game.

It was a very youthful second half line up, with a number of players being used that Houllier probably wouldn't have recognised. Five of the players who came on have never appeared in a competitive Reds fixture but you'd never have guessed it, with Stephen Warnock playing particularly well.

With Wrexham defending the goal behind which our fans were seated, it was time for some of the trainee scumbags to move into action. Whenever we got a corner Alex Ferguson's son Darren was defending one of the goalposts, which led to a number of Munich and Shipman chants.

Once again the actions of a minority are shaming us all as the links and excuses to sing them become even more tenuous.

The local police had kept a high profile presence, some trouble apparently having occurred when Everton were in town last year. On the whole things passed off without incident but there was one small event in Wetherspoons that made me unsure whether to be ashamed or embarrassed.

About 20 teenage Lacosted up lads came in and sang 'Shit on the Taffys' before marching en masse into the kitchen area, cheering, then leaving. They've probably gone and told all their mates how they had 'taken' a home pub, but words fail me. If you are going to be a hooligan crew, at least take a proper pub, not Wetherspoons for fucks sake.

I'd like to have seen them try the same trick in The Turf next to the Racecourse Kop.

Going back to the game though and the star of the second half had to be Florent Sinama Pongolle. The young Frenchman vanished off the scene last season as soon as he robbed the Allez Allez chant. But he was eager and hungry and tore the Wrexham defence to shreds, showing a great understanding with his compatriot and ex Le Havre team mate Le Tallec.

The half was just 3 minutes old when Dibble saved with his legs when Pongolle was clean through and he also went close on 2 other occasions. On one of these he fired over from a half chance on the edge of the six yard box.

But to judge from his reaction you'd think he’d missed an open goal in the cup final, such was his desire to find the net. Benitez has spoke of him as one of 4 strikers, so it looks like he'll be involved a lot in 2004-5 and deservedly so.

Despite having missed out earlier, Pongolle showed his unselfish nature on 78 minutes when he shook off a defender to make space but rather than shoot himself, he passed to the better placed Le Tallec. He had the simple task of rolling the ball into the net to give us the lead our domination and possession had merited.

This was Wrexham's 3rd game in 4 days and it showed, they just had no answer to our swift movement.

For most of the last 10 minutes Rafa's name was sung by the away end, but he stuck to the task of getting instructions to the players and didn't respond till the end. Sadly the chant was the unoriginal "Benitez, Benitez" or "Rafael Benitez" to the tune of "super Danny Murphy". Surely something more interesting can be made up than this.

On the whole it was a useful exercise and a good workout. We'll face tougher opposition than Wrexham but then again we'll have better players available than we had on the night. However the message is clearly there that if you are good enough you will get a chance and as the treatment of Diouf has showed, the size of transfer fees counts for nothing.

Most importantly the team played for each other and the football was attractive, with Benitez still urging them forward for a 3rd in injury time. On this performance going to Anfield won't be so much of a chore this coming season.

Team: Kirkland (Dudek), Finnan (Otsemobor), Hyypia (Whitbread), Medjani (Raven), Traore (Riise); Murphy (Foy), Biscan (Potter), Welsh (Diao), Kewell (Warnock); Le Tallec, Cisse (Pongolle):

 

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