Rigters makes his Rovers debut

ROVERS warmed up for their Intertoto campaign with a 2-1 win over Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground.

Striker Jason Roberts continued where he left off at the end of last season when he fired Rovers in front on 27 minutes, and turned provider eight minutes later as Robbie Savage scored from the spot after Roberts had been upended.

Wrexham rallied in the second half and deservedly pulled a goal back through Mohamed, and despite their endeavours they couldn't grab an equaliser.

It was a good night for Mark Hughes' side, Robbie Savage and Andre Ooijer made their long-awaited comebacks from broken legs, whilst new signing Maceo Rigters looked lively as a second half substitute for Rovers.

Striker Jason Roberts had the first chance of note after just four minutes, latching onto a Warnock pass inside before turning sharply and firing goalwards, whilst Wrexham 'keeper Michael Jones stood rooted to the spot he was relieved to see the ball deflect narrowly wide.

The home side responded positively with chances of their own, former Rovers trainee Richard Hope saw his glancing header claimed by Friedel, whilst a long-range effort from Simms flew narrowly over the crossbar.

A series of corner kicks to the Welsh club followed but nothing came from them, their best chance of the opening half came when Chris Llewellyn beat the Rovers' offside trap and crossed for Marc Williams, but Friedel did well to tip the effort over the bar.

The deadlock was finally broken as Rovers made Wrexham pay for those missed chances when Jason Roberts scored with a fine solo effort on 27 minutes. The Grenadan skipped through several challenges before beating Jones with a low drive to give the visitors the lead.

Boosted by the goal Rovers took command, Roberts nearly made it two but a timely tackle from Gareth Evans thwarted the Rovers number 30. However he was soon in the action again as another bursting run was brought to a halt by Hope's clumsy challenge.

Robbie Savage went straight for the ball to take the kick ahead of Benni McCarthy, the Wrexham-born midfielder just beating Jones in the Wrexham goal with his low effort to the left.

Three minutes later Rovers had the ball in the back of the net for a third time but it didn't count, McCarthy just offside when he curled Tugay's clever ball into the back of the net.

Wrexham made ten changes at half time, whilst Mark Hughes resisted that temptation. But Robbie Savage and Andre Ooijer will have been delighted for 45 minutes of action, Dunn and Khizanishvili replacing the duo.

Rovers started the second half brightly but that early promise soon evaporated as Wrexham took control of the game. The lead was quickly cut on 53 minutes when Simms - the only player not to be subbed at half-time for the home side - barged his way through the centre of the Rovers defence before slipping the ball through to Kaid Mohamed who rounded Friedel before slipping the ball home.

Mark Hughes made plenty of changes as the second half continued and this didn't aid the flow to Rovers' game allowing Wrexham to continue their domination. With ten minutes to go Matty Done should have levelled the scores when he beat the offside trap, but with just Friedel to beat he chose to square the ball and Samba slid in to clear the danger.

There was still time for Brad Friedel to pull off a fantastic save to deny Mike Carvill's equally impressive strike from the edge of the area, it looked destined for the top corner until the American dived to his left to touch the ball around the post.

Matt Derbyshire, who didn't play due to a foot injury did have some involvement in the game, from his seat with the Rovers fans in the stands he took to the pitch at half-time to great applause to make the half-time draw.

The players now jet off to Germany for a week of training including a game on Sunday against Arminia Bielefeld before the important task of the Intertoto Cup begins in earnest the following weekend.

WREXHAM:

1st Half: Mike Jones, Spender, Taylor, Gareth Evans, Hope, Danny Williams, Mark Jones, Llewellyn, Simms, Marc Williams, Kacaniklic.

2nd Half: Anthony Williams, Valentine, Mike Williams, Pejic, Steve Evans, Mackin, Murtagh, Carvill, Mohamed, Roberts, Done.

ROVERS:

Friedel, Ooijer (sub Khizanishvili 46 mins), Warnock (sub Berner 62 mins), Samba, Tugay (sub Mokoena 46 mins), Nelsen (sub Henchoz 46 mins), Savage (sub Dunn 46 mins), McCarthy (sub Rigters 62 mins), Bentley (sub Jeffers 86 mins), Pedersen (sub Peter 72 mins), Roberts (sub Gallagher 70 mins).

Subs not used: Brown, Kane.

Attendance: 2,703