Pope disappointed after Colwyn Bay defeat

COLWYN BAY manager Steve Pope described himself as "very disappointed" with his side's performance after they lost 2-0 at home to Wrexham in front of a crowd of nearly 700 on Saturday (July 26).
Wrexham won with two first half goals and it was only in the last five minutes that Colwyn Bay created anything in front of goal.
"I was very disappointed with our performance, " said the manager. "I don't know if we were overawed or what, but we didn't seem to want the ball and we didn't do any of the things we did well the other night against Tranmere.
"We were better in the second half when Wrexham couldn't get through us and we also created two very good chances late in the game when Dean Canning and Rob Hopley should have scored, but overall we have to do much better than that."
Colwyn Bay started brightly with some good attacking play in the opening five minutes, but Wrexham closed players down very quickly in midfield, giving Colwyn Bay no time on the ball and forcing a number of errors and free kicks.
Carl Tremarco put Wrexham in front after 23 minutes with a well struck free kick on the edge of the area and when Colwyn Bay gave the ball away at the back four minutes later, Shaun Whalley broke clear to pick his spot past Matt Parry.
Wrexham seemed to take their foot off the pedal in the second half, but always looked in control as Colwyn Bay struggled to string passes together.
It was only in the last five minutes that the Seagulls created a real goalscoring opportunity when Dean Canning broke clear on the left but put his angled shot wide of the far post, and then Wrexham keeper Gavin Ward made a good save to turn Rob Hopley's close range shot for a corner.
Wrexham manager Brian Little said Colwyn Bay and provided a "physical challenge" to his side, but he always felt they had the game under control.
"I would have liked us to have kicked on in the second half and scored more goals, but when you have the game won at half-time it is easy for players to switch off a bit," he said afterwards.
Steve Pope said he would be playing a different side against Llandudno on Tuesday (July 29), starting with players who did not get a game against Wrexham.