Wrexham’s defense was criticized harshly by Phil Parkinson as “ridiculous” after the team finished outside the top three in League Two.
Consequently, what happened?
The Red Dragons now sit fourth in the rankings after failing to secure a spot in the automatic spots going into Salford City. They still lead their opponents in games played, but they have lost three straight in all competitions; Blackburn Rovers and Newport County were their opponents.
PARKINSON’S MENTION
After Salford scored two goals from a handful of corners, Wrexham was behind two goals in just sixteen minutes. Parkinson commented, “We gave two goals away from corners which are ridiculous.” We set a high bar for ourselves against a team that is performing well. It is very difficult to lose when you give up two goals like that. They are a strong, set-play club that gets the ball to Matt Smith and makes it a real struggle. We pulled one back, but it was quite unfortunate that we couldn’t contain the third goal because we weren’t strong enough in our box.
THE LARGER IMAGE
“We have to find a way on our travels when the pitch isn’t great, or the other team plays a certain way, to come through these games with points because we have come out second best against Salford in important areas of the game,” Parkinson said of Wrexham, whose Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney call the shots. Wrexham has grown into a formidable opponent for fourth-tier rivals.
However, we gave Salford a tremendous boost, and if we had correctly guarded those two set-plays, we would have started to gain momentum in the game. We prepared for the kind of game we anticipated it would be, but two corners going in the way they did cannot be legally allowed. Sam [Dalby] scored a nice goal to bring us back into the game, but the third goal dealt us a serious blow because the second half conditions were favorable and you had us on the verge of victory.
FUTURE PLANS FOR WREXHAM?
Parkinson’s team will return home the following weekend to take on Bradford City. They will have seven days to salvage something from a lackluster showing against fellow celebrities from a well-liked documentary series, which will feature Gary Neville, David Beckham, and Manchester United’s legendary “Class of ’92” in the boardroom at Salford.
