Wrexham targeting promotion and place in EFL Trophy final.
IT’S a big week on two fronts as Phil Parkinson attempts to get the automatic promotion challenge back on track and lead Wrexham to a major final.
The Reds, currently third in League One and five points behind second placed Wycombe Wanderers following Tuesday’s 2-1 home defeat to Leyton Orient, have three crucial games in seven days, starting with Sunday’s clash with Mansfield Town at Field Mill.
Attention then turns to the EFL Trophy and Wednesday’s semi-final showdown against Peterborough United at The Racecourse, with the winners progressing to the Wembley showpiece where Birmingham City will be the opponents.
Wrexham are back in league action next Saturday at home to play-off hopefuls Bolton Wanderers, and the matches continue to come thick and fast after that in pursuit of a top-two finish.
Parkinson has named the same starting XI for the last three league fixtures but he is admits changes are likely in the upcoming fixtures.
“We go into the game at the weekend picking a team with what’s ahead of us in mind as well because it will be very unlikely that the same team plays the next next three games when you go Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve got a bit of time as staff to reflect on Orient and pick the team we feel is ready to go at the weekend.”
Wrexham took a 15th minute lead through in-form midfielder Ollie Rathbone but sixth placed Orient equalised before the break.
Despite putting in a good first-half performance, the Reds lost their way after the break and the visitors scored the winner.
Although unhappy with the result – Wrexham have suffered back-to-back home league defeats for the first time since Parkinson took charge in July 2021 – he is looking to bounce back at the first opportunity.
“We are obviously disappointed but we have got to move on quickly,” he added.
“The games come thick and fast, so you’ve very quickly got another chance on Sunday to put right what we didn’t do well, and we’ll certainly do that.
“We need to take some of the the good stuff we did first half because some of the play when we moved it quickly was really good.
“But we needed more of it in the second period so we’ll be looking to put in a more consistent performance across the 90 minutes than than we did against Orient.
“We will come out and respond. There’s lots of football left in this season yet.”
