The owners of Wrexham, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are apprehensive about their team’s chances of promotion from League 2, especially since one of their star players has been suspended.
James McClean won’t be available for Wrexham for the next two games, which Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will be watching nervously as their club battles for promotion.
The Welsh team is now in second place in League Two, just two points behind leaders Mansfield Town, with just five points separating the top five. Though Crewe Alexander and MK Dons are in fourth and fifth place with 64 points apiece, Stockport, who are in third place, are breathing down their necks as they trail Phil Parkinson’s team by just one point and have two games remaining.
This was the situation on Tuesday night as Wrexham and Harrogate Town were kept to a scoreless draw. They dominated possession, had 16 shots on goal against just four for the opposition, and were unable to break the tie at the Racecourse.
Wrexham’s season-long woes continued after the draw, as McClean was automatically banned for two matches after receiving his tenth yellow card. With just under 20 minutes remaining, he was caught pulling Levi Sutton’s shirt. The referee called a penalty and decided that the offense warranted a booking.
The former Sunderland and Republic of Ireland international’s card count would have reset and any suspension worries would have been allayed if he had avoided receiving a yellow card against Harrogate. When McClean received eight yellow cards and Will Boyle was sent off in a 1-0 loss to Newport County in January, boss Parkinson emphasized the importance of his team practicing greater discipline.
“By setting ourselves off, we set ourselves a mountain to climb. Even if it’s a difficult location to visit, we fall behind by ten men, and in the second half, the circumstances were also in their favor,” he told the club’s media. “With ten men, we never really produced the quality to tie the score. When we got to this point, the last thing we wanted was to concede a goal and drop to 10 men and 2.
“If we’d made it to half-time nil-nil, you’d have fancied us because the crowd were starting to get edgy to their own team and the goal was, like any goal, a key moment.” A lot of times we’ve been down to 10 men, we’ve found a way to win, but you can’t keep doing that. It is difficult.
“We have to make sure between now and the end of the season we keep our discipline and give ourselves every chance in every single game.” But now the 34-year-old will be unavailable for his team’s home game against Tranmere Rovers and a trip to Grimsby Town on March 16 and 23 respectively.
Wrexham missed the chance to go level on points with league leaders Mansfield, but Tranmere’s 2-1 victory over ‘The Stags’ on Tuesday means the 2023 National League winners are not behind by a bigger margin heading into this weekend’s important fixtures.
